Firefighter who filmed Ocean Boulevard shooting is back in Myrtle Beach before election

The man who shot a Facebook Live video showing a mass shooting on Ocean Boulevard in June came back to Myrtle Beach Friday and responded to criticism from Mayor John Rhodes.

Volunteer firefighter Bubba Hinson was on vacation and staying in an Ocean Boulevard hotel when he shot the viral video that propelled the city into the national spotlight.

But Hinson’s video recently drew criticism in this election season from Rhodes, who said Hinson should have responded to the injured people on the street.

Rhodes is running for re-election against challengers Ed Carey, Brenda Bethune, Mark McBride and C.D. Rozsa. Public safety and Hinson’s video have become a topic of discussion before Tuesday’s election.

On Friday, Hinson appeared at a news conference called by Carey and attended by Carey’s supporters and campaign manager Tom Herron.

“I stand by what I did,” Hinson said. “Any fire department is not going to enter a hostile scene until it’s secured by law enforcement.”

When asked what it felt like to become part of the Myrtle Beach mayoral campaign, Hinson did not respond. Instead, Carey said, “This is not a campaign issue, this is an apology to this public safety worker that was insulted by our mayor.”

Hinson said he didn’t think someone in Rhodes’ position should have commented the way the mayor did, but that he wouldn’t let it bother him.

“I’m not gonna be put down by something like that,” Hinson said. “I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing. If I want to come back to the beach, I’m gonna come back to the beach. I’m not going to let words stop me from doing that.”

At the end of the news conference, Carey was asked about what he would do about politicians “misleading” citizens of Myrtle Beach.

“I’m don’t want to get into the politics of this thing, but basically one of the tenets of my candidacy is the transparency problem,” Carey said.

When asked by phone about who paid for Hinson’s trip to Myrtle Beach, Carey said it was “a group of businessmen.” He said he didn’t know who paid for it.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “The story’s not about who paid for him coming down here.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Firefighter who filmed Ocean Boulevard shooting is back in Myrtle Beach before election."