{"id":24252,"date":"2025-10-14T13:22:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=843592"},"modified":"2025-10-14T13:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:22:55","slug":"shooting-at-packed-sc-bar-kills-4-and-injures-at-least-20-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/14\/shooting-at-packed-sc-bar-kills-4-and-injures-at-least-20-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting at Packed SC Bar Kills 4 and Injures At Least 20 More"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southeast\/2025\/10\/14\/843592.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southeast\/2025\/10\/14\/843592.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>A mass shooting early Sunday at a crowded bar on an idyllic island considered to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/cf86295347a74cf2a21eb0329099b8ff\">largest Gullah community<\/a> on the South Carolina coast has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>A large crowd was at Willie\u2019s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island when sheriff\u2019s deputies arrived and found many people with gunshot wounds. An estimated 5,000 or more Gullah people living on the island trace their ancestry back to enslaved West Africans who once worked rice plantations in the area before being freed by the Civil War.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Bar owner Willie Turral was inside the establishment, which was packed for a high school alumni event, when he heard shots going off \u201cin bursts\u201d outside. He described the scene: \u201cScreaming and panic and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Beaufort County Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a statement on the social platform X that many people ran to nearby businesses seeking shelter from the gunfire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a tragic and difficult incident for everyone,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe ask for your patience as we continue to investigate this incident. Our thoughts are with all of the victims and their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the injured, four were in critical condition at hospitals Sunday afternoon. The victims\u2019 identities were not released.<\/p>\n<p>Turral said the bar was hosting an event for alumni of Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of St. Helena Island. He said people were having a good time when the shots were heard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was scary from the inside,\u201d he said, with \u201cpeople not knowing what\u2019s really going on outside, people trying to get to safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X that she was \u201cCOMPLETELY HEARTBROKEN to learn about the devastating shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Willie\u2019s Bar and Grill advertises itself as serving authentic Gullah-inspired cuisine and describes itself on its website as \u201cnot just a restaurant but a community pillar committed to giving back, especially to our youth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smaller enclaves of Gullah, referred to as Geechee in some areas, are scattered along the Southeast coast from North Carolina to Florida. Scholars say separation from the mainland caused the Gullah to retain much of their African heritage, including a <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/INLoxvNjFiA\">unique dialect<\/a> and skills such as cast-net fishing and basket weaving.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p><em>Associated Press writer Lewis Levine produced this report; Kathy McCormack contributed from Concord, New Hampshire.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"copyright-notice lite\">Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/div>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/south-carolina\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">South Carolina<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"843592\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day.<\/h4>\n<p>Get the insurance industry&#8217;s trusted newsletter<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments A mass shooting early Sunday at a crowded bar on an idyllic island considered to be the largest Gullah community on the South Carolina coast has left four people dead and&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1695,45],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/shooting-at-packed-sc-bar-kills-4-and-injures-at-least-20-more.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}