Deputies are searching for two men who shot a taxi cab driver late Monday in the Belfast Road area.

The C & C Commute taxi driver, Macedonia Gallman, 23, was shot after picking up riders and is in critical condition at Palmetto Richland Hospital.

Doctors are saying Gallman has a “long way to go“ after being shot and left in a ditch on a lonely country highway near Chappells, said C & C owner Willie Cromer.

“I never thought this would happen...It don’t sound like Newberry,“ said Cromer, adding he was doubtful his drivers would show up for last night’s shift.

For the past 11 years the local cab company has operated 24 hours a day, but Monday night’s pick-up may change things.

Gallman was dispatched to pick up two passengers on Smith Road by Newberry Academy at approximately 11 p.m. Monday.

“The driver picked up two African-American males that asked him to take them to the Belfast Road area,“ said Sheriff Lee Foster. “When the driver did not report in, the dispatch called the Sheriff’s Office to be on the lookout for the taxi.“

Deputy Rusty Fulmer was in the Mudlick Road area near Chappells assisting with removing a tree that fell during a thunderstorm.

Fulmer had earlier spotted a taxi with two people inside on Highway 56. Once the call came in about the missing taxi, Fulmer began searching.

As the deputy turned onto Mudlick Road off of Highway 56, he spotted Gallman in the ditch.

The taxi driver had suffered at least two gunshot wounds to the body, said Foster.

As Sheriff’s Lt. Garrett Lominack was responding to back up Fulmer, he saw a C&C taxi in a ditch near the intersection of Belfast Road and Belmont Church Road. The suspects were nowhere to be seen.

Bloodhounds were called to the scene, but were not able to track the men that left the taxi behind.

Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office began work on the two crime scenes to obtain forensic evidence, said Foster.

The victim was airlifted to Palmetto Richland and was listed in critical condition as his mom, sisters, aunts and others spent yesterday at the hospital.

But Cromer says Gallman was able to give officers a brief description of the suspects. The driver was not able to give names, leading the owner of the cab service to feel the two men were not regular passengers.

Foster says there is no known motive in the case, and Gallman is unconscious, so it is not known if he was robbed.

“We have a few leads, but nothing significant. We are also working the forensic side very hard,” Foster said this morning.

The suspects are described as two black males. One was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, and the other a multi-colored baseball type cap.

C&C Commute is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the case, in addition to the money offered by the Sheriff’s Office and Crime Stoppers.

If you have any information about this case, contact the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office at 321-2211 or www.newberrycountysheriff.com. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CrimeSC, www.sccrimestoppers.com or text your tip to “TIPSC plus your message“ to CRIMES (274637).