RALEIGH, NC (WNCN/AP) — Two people were killed and 17 others were injured in shootings at three graduation parties across the country this weekend, including parties in Virginia and South Carolina, officials said.
In all three shootings, about 100 partygoers were at the homes where the parties were held.
The most recent shooting — a drive-by — happened just after 11 pm Saturday on St. Paul Road just outside Summerton, South Carolina, according to deputies in Clarendon County.
A woman died and seven young people — including six between the ages of 12 and 17 — were injured in the Summerton shooting, which is about 70 miles southeast of Columbia, the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office said.
Like the shootings in Virginia and West Texas, dozens of rounds were fired — with deputies in South Carolina saying between 60 and 70 gunshots were fired.
In Virginia, a 20-year-old man was fatally shot and seven other young people were injured after gunfire erupted during a graduation party late Friday night in central Virginia, police said Saturday.
Two separate fights between attendees of the mostly outdoor party in Chester, Virginia, were reported before police received a call about shots fired shortly late Friday night, Chesterfield County Police Maj. Brad Badgerow said.
Officers in Virginia found more than 50 casings of four different calibers in the area of Stepney Road and Weybridge Road.
The department said when officers arrived at the scene, they discovered 20-year-old Taborri J. Carter of Petersburg suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers rendered aid, but he died at the scene.
Five other shooting victims had already left the scene before police arrived, according to a news release that said their injuries appeared to be non-life-threatening.
Two other people were injured when they were struck by a vehicle as they fled the shooting, police said. Those injured ranged in age from 16 to 21 and were from Chesterfield or nearby localities. The party, which had been advertised on social media, drew about 50 to 100 people, Badgerow said.
Near El Paso in Texas, authorities say five teens were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after gunfire broke out at an overnight high school graduation party at a West Texas home.
Police in Socorro say the teens ranged in age from 16 to 18. Police Chief David Burton says the 1 am Saturday shooting erupted when a fight broke out between two groups of teens.
Burton says as many as 100 people were at the party. Burton expressed confidence at a Saturday news conference that a suspect would be identified and arrested. Socorro is on the Mexican border near El Paso.
The Virginia party took place in a residential area of Chester, which is about 15 miles south of Richmond.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism