Late-night shooting in Myrtle Beach mars otherwise calm second day of Memorial Day weekend
Horry County may have seen an unusual spike in coronavirus cases this week, but Lolita Muldrow wasn’t going let the current pandemic stop her from enjoying her annual Memorial Day getaway to Myrtle Beach.
While the Sumter resident wore a face mask as she walked along the Myrtle Beach boardwalk Saturday afternoon, she said it made her feel good spending the holiday weekend with her family in spite of recent events. Despite experiencing close friends and family die from COVID-19, she said being in the crowd of tourists didn’t bother her.
“I’ve seen close friends of mine pass and parents pass from corona,” Muldrow said, explaining she wore her mask to ensure she, her family and co-workers are shielded from the virus. “I see a lot of people not wearing masks, it doesn’t bother me but I don’t want to take it back to my work.”
While more people sported face masks this weekend compared to last, the majority still opted not to. Such was perhaps most folks’ biggest concern for the holiday weekend until tragedy broke out early Sunday morning.
The roughly 450 local, state and federal law enforcement officials had kept traffic and activities relativity contained as the city entered into day two of the holiday weekend. However, following a relatively calm day, a shooting resulting in multiple injuries erupted near 12th Avenue North around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
The shooting took place in the same area as a gang-related shooting a week ago that also left several injured. Last week’s violence and chaotic behavior led to multiple discussions between police and city leaders regarding the implementation of traffic patterns to ensure the safety of both tourists and residents.
With Memorial Day festivities in full swing, city officials are expecting a 75 to 100 percent occupancy rate for the holiday weekend, which could be a strong indicator on the virus’ status here in the coming weeks after Horry County had its highest one-day number of cases reported Friday.
This week alone there were 73 COVID-19 cases announced in the county, a slight bump compared to the 39 cases announced last week. Currently, there are 371 positive COVID-19 cases in Horry County, with 21 deaths reported.
Though it was clear on Saturday the virus’ continued spread hasn’t deterred people from hitting the sand and surf, the crowds were much thinner compared to previous years and last weekend, when the city reopened to tourism, leaving plenty of room for folks to social distance and safety walk along the sidewalks on Ocean Boulevard.
There are currently barricades set up from 29th Avenue North to 29th Avenue South, side streets blocked off and traffic only flowing southbound on Ocean Boulevard, with the northbound lane reserved for emergency personnel. With congestion noticeable — it was taking anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to travel from one end of the Boulevard to the other — traffic was steadily moving and remained under control.
With Memorial Day weekend typically inundated with bikers celebrating Atlantic Beach Bikefest, also known as Black Bike Week, only a handful of bikers could be seen spending time in Myrtle Beach and Atlantic Beach. While the annual event was postponed to Labor Day weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic, some bikers made their way to the area curious if others would too.
Bikers Curtis Mcalister, Fred Adams and Terence Jacobs wandered the empty streets in Atlantic Beach on Saturday afternoon. In a normal year, the few streets within the small town would be packed with bikers and vendors celebrating the annual gathering. Now, the beaches remain closed, with bars and restaurants operating on a limited crowd.
Adams said the trio traveled from Darlington County simply because it’s tradition. He said the group usually spends the weekend in Atlantic Beach and felt off not doing it this year, despite the event’s postponement. Despite the roughly two-hour drive, Mcalister said, the atmosphere was exactly what he expected it to be.
“We wanted to see what was really going to happen,” Mcalister said. “If it was crowded we would have been surprised.”
