Video shows man kill 2 soldiers and walk off, Chapin bar owner says

The two soldiers who were killed at a Lake Murray restaurant Sunday came running toward the sound of gunshots to rescue a woman, the restaurant owner said Tuesday.

Justin Brooks, owner of the Frayed Knot Bar & Grill on Dreher Island Road in Chapin, recounted security camera footage of a double homicide he said he has watched over and over Sunday and part of Monday.

Staff Sgt. Charles Allen Judge Jr. and Sgt. 1st Class Jonathon Michael Prins died after they rushed to help after a quick but tense standoff with a man that deputies have identified as Joseph Elijah Mills, 25, of Little Mountain.

“From the footage, there’s a woman running from the far side of the parking lot, darting back and forth like she doesn’t know which way to go,” Brooks said. He said the woman went past the restaurant’s front door and ran toward a dock area in the back.

At that point, Mills tackled the woman and started hitting and kicking her, Brooks said. A group of about 10 people pulled him off, causing him to fall about a foot from the docks to the ground, the bar owner said.

“He pulls out his gun, starts shooting in the air,” Brooks said. Everybody runs except for one gentleman. Even though the gun was there, he was standing there – it looked like he was trying to get the gun. The gentleman’s wife was pulling him away as he was trying to get to the shooter.”

The suspect got back on the docks and started looking for the woman, Brooks said. That’s when the soldiers arrived.

The two had been on a boat docked near the restaurant with friends. They ran run a long distance to get to the gunman after hearing the shots, Brooks said.

“The first one that approaches him has his hands up in the air, like, ‘Let’s slow down and talk about this,’ ” Brooks said. Then, he said, the second soldier came up beside the first – both of them no more than two to five feet away from the gunman.

The gunman shot them both, Brooks said. “He just walked off like he was shopping in an aisle of a grocery store, just nonchalantly takes the time and walks off,” Brooks said.

Brooks has turned the footage of the incident over to law enforcement, he said. The State has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for it but has not yet received it.

The Frayed Knot opened in January 2014, and Brooks said he has worked to make it a family friendly place since opening.

“I have three children of my own ... and they love this place,” Brooks said. “They love to come over and play in the sand.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Video shows man kill 2 soldiers and walk off, Chapin bar owner says."