NEWBERRY — The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate a shooting on Brown Chapel Road that left one man dead this weekend.
Newberry County Coroner Laura Kneece has identified Michael McKinsey Mathis, 35, of Newberry, as the victim. Kneece said the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso.
At 11:23 p.m., deputies were called to the Brown Chapel area of Helena for multiple shots being fired, according to a press release from the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office. A short time later, Newberry County 911 received a call regarding a person being in the street with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the release.
Prior to the arrival of Newberry County EMS and Newberry County Rescue, 911 was notified that the victim was being transported by a personal vehicle to Newberry County Memorial Hospital. Upon arrival, the victim was dropped off at the ambulance ramp, with the personal vehicle leaving, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“We have identified the person who dropped off the victim — we have determined that he was a good Samaritan that took the victim to the hospital to get aid, but was afraid to be involved,” said Sheriff Lee Foster.
The release stated that on Sunday, the victim succumbed to his wound. Foster said this is the first death involving the drive-by shootings that have been happening in Newberry County.
“They have really kicked up since right before Christmas, for whatever reason,” Foster said of the shootings.
Investigating deputies found that the shooting took place at 211 Brown Chapel Drive, in the Helena section, just outside the City of Newberry. According to the release, deputies observed several expended rifle shell casings in the street and several bullet holes in the residence. The preliminary investigation showed the victim and another man were in the residence when the shots began.
There are no suspects at this time, according to Foster, and there is no description of the vehicle.
“Just before the call about the person being injured, we did have calls from a couple of people about shots being fired, but no one saw where they were coming from, or saw the vehicle,” he said.
While this is a residential neighborhood, Foster said they are reviewing cameras that they know of in the area. He also said if anyone living in that area has a residential camera, they’d appreciate them sharing the footage with the Sheriff’s Office.
“We are doing everything we can to stop these targeted acts of violence; however, we cannot do this without the help of our residents. Staying silent only empowers those that terrorize good people and their neighborhoods. Please help us put a stop to this nonsense,” Foster said. “If somebody sees something, they need to say something. If somebody is shooting at a house, or in the air, you need to call 911 and give a description of the vehicle.”
Foster added that if you hear someone bragging, or know anything related to a shooting, you need to come forward.
“If you were in the car at the time, or loaned your car to somebody that did this, you could be charged just like the shooter,” he said.
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone with information regarding this incident to call 803-321-2222 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. Foster said if anyone is worried about retaliation, Crime Stoppers is completely anonymous, and the servers that handle Crime Stoppers aren’t even in the Untied States and they have no way of knowing who calls those in.
“The saddest part of this whole thing, the people that are doing this are just a very small portion of our population. Unfortunately, that very small portion is wreaking havoc on very good people in very good neighborhoods,” Foster said. “The neighborhood this happened, terrific amount of people that are really good, fine people, and they are paying the price for these terrorist.”