Five people were wounded in less that 12-hours in drive-by shootings Wednesday afternoon and early yesterday morning in Newberry County.

Around 1:30 a.m. yesterday, three people were shot standing in a yard on Gary Street in the Helena community just west of the city limits of Newberry.

Witnesses tell sheriff’s deputies the gunshots came from a van that was in the neighborhood, said Sheriff Lee Foster.

The bullets hit the threesome in the lower extremities. Two of the victims were taken to Newberry County Memorial Hospital and one was taken to Palmetto Richland, according to Foster.

Foster says a short time later, officers found a van abandoned in a ditch.

“It is too early in the investigation to determine if this is gang related, but officers are attempting to determine if it is connected to an earlier shooting in the city of Newberry,” said Foster.

Foster added that it appears the shooting was blacks verses blacks.

Also, on Wednesday afternoon, two people were shot with one bullet near the intersections of Main Street, Winnsboro Road and Pike Circle.

The bullet grazed one person in the hand and hit a second person in the leg.

Newberry Police Captain Chuck Counts says those involved in the shooting are not cooperating with the investigation and officers.

If you have any information about either case, call the Sheriff’s Office at 321-2222 or Newberry Police at 321-1010 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CrimeSC.