Murder in South Carolina at 5-year high, Horry County had third-highest rate

by Simon Williams

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — The state’s law enforcement agency, SLED, released data that shows in 2018, 393 South Carolinians were murdered. That’s the highest the state has seen in five years.

The data shows that 29 of those happened in Horry County, which is the third-highest in the state, behind Charleston and Richland counties.

Now, the county solicitor says his office is taking a more aggressive approach in the courtroom.

“We want to get the people that are most prone to do that off the streets and in prison,” says Solicitor Jimmy Richardson.

The report from SLED shows most of the state’s murders in 2018 happened with a gun.

Richardson says they’re taking an aggressive approach to “armed robberies, kidnappings, attempted murders, trafficking and drugs. All of the little indicators that you are moving up and are more likely than not to commit a murder.”

He continues, “If you will put a gun in somebody’s face and take their money from them, it is not a big jump from that, to killing somebody.”

SLED’S data also shows most of those happened with someone the victim knew.

For protection, Richardson says “If you are buying drugs out of your own house, or selling drugs out of your own house, you are at high risk of either shooting or being shot.”

He continues, “you are probably dealing with a gang. You are dealing with someone who is selling drugs and is also armed.”

For those convicted of murder, Richardson says they’re not messing around. A bare minimum sentence of 30 years will not be taken lightly.

“Let there be no mistake on this,” says Richardson, “31 years, means 31 years.”

Richardson also says his office has been sending gun cases off to federal partners, to show the seriousness of those offenses.