LITTLE RIVER, S.C. (AP) — Ten people were shot during a fight that started after a private boat hosting a holiday weekend party arrived at a dock Sunday night on the South Carolina coast, authorities said.
No one died in the shooting in Little River around 9:30 p.m., although some of the wounded were in critical condition, Horry County Police said in a statement.
At least one person was taken to the hospital who was not hurt by gunfire, police said.
The shooting happened around a dock where a private charter boat leaves for cruises. The boat was docked and detectives are trying to figure out exactly where the fight and shooting began, police said.
A flyer online advertised a party Sunday night with a DJ on a three-hour cruise ending at 9 p.m. A woman who answered a phone number on the flyer early Monday said she was distraught seeing her friends get shot but then said she didn’t want to talk any more and hung up.
Someone who answered the phone at the company that owns the boat said he didn’t want to talk to a reporter.
No arrests have been made as detectives continue to investigate, police said.
Randy Evans told a Charleston newspaper that his 25-year-old son was shot in the ankle and toe but managed to use his bathing suit as a makeshift tourniquet to help people who were more severely injured.
“The surgery was better than they expected,” Evans told The Post and Courier after his son didn’t need pins in his foot or ankle. “He’s going to be OK.”
Evans said his son told him that an argument after the boat docked turned ugly.
A North Myrtle Beach police officer responding to the shooting accidentally shot himself in the leg at a marina about 3 miles (5 kilometers) away and is in the hospital in stable condition, North Myrtle Beach spokeswoman Lauren Jessie said.
Little River is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Myrtle Beach. The fishing village is known for its docks and marinas where fishing expeditions, a casino boat and several dolphin cruises leave daily.