Mass Shooting on SC Island Linked to 'Ongoing Feud'

The answers are coming slowly in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting on a South Carolina coastal island. Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner said the violence at Willie's Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island stemmed from an "ongoing feud" between a small number of individuals who grew up in the county. "We know that there were two, possibly three within this crowd that had an ongoing feud with each other," Tanner said, in what the Post and Courier reports were his first public comments since the shooting, which killed four and wounded another 16 people.

The Island Packet reports Tanner referenced witnesses declining to ID the suspects due to "fear of retaliation ... We had 700 people at this party, and we have yet to get a witness that can tell us who the shooters are." But when asked whether the evidence was leading them to specific suspects, he said yes. "I can't name the person or how many, but we do. We have a lot of information."

He said his office planned to hand off firearms, shell casings and projectiles to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for analysis "within the hour." When asked if residents should fear for their safety with the suspects still at large, Tanner replied, "It's a difficult answer to give."