‘Now they having a shootout on the Boulevard’: 911 calls detail Myrtle Beach shooting
“Oh, they shooting! They having a shootout on the Boulevard!”
“They shooting, somebody down!”
That is what one 911 caller told dispatchers as gunfire erupted on a crowded Ocean Boulevard Sunday evening. Two rival gangs brought their conflict from Chesterfield County to Myrtle Beach, police said, and it ended with shots being fired across the city’s most famous road.
Myrtle Beach police charged seven people in connection to the shooting. Several people were injured, including two bystanders who were shot.
Both victims have been released from the hospital and are recovering at home.
Horry County released 911 calls from witnesses following a Freedom of Information Act request by The Sun News. In Horry County, 911 calls from cellphones are go directly to the county emergency center. They are then transferred to Myrtle Beach’s center if the incident is inside city limits.
“We got some gang members over by the Skywheel pulling out guns,” one caller said. “They trying to fight right here at the grasshoppers. Yeah, we need officers.”
The caller spoke in a calm voice, which didn’t get louder than a typical conversation. He was then transferred to Myrtle Beach operators.
He described the situation by saying one group was in the parking lot by the Skywheel and the other was walking towards the Gay Dolphin. He added one guy pulled out a gun.
“OK, so one group is in the parking lot …,” a dispatcher started to ask.
“Oh, they having a shootout,” the caller frantically yelled.
The caller notes the shooting is near Mr. Joe White Avenue as dispatchers ask for information on how many people are hurt.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” the caller said. “I don’t know, they, um, there is a group … .”
“I got shots fired in front of the Skywheel someone is down,” another dispatcher is heard saying in the background as the call ends.
In another call immediately following the shooting, a caller described the clothing of one of the suspects.
The caller said he’s a police officer in North Carolina and was along the strip. He described a black man with a white tank top and a red plaid shirt tied around his waist. The caller said the shooter ran towards a blue building across from Riptydz.
“There’s two shooters?” a dispatcher asks before the recording ends, showing the confusion in the seconds after the shooting.
Seven people charged
Myrtle Beach police charged seven people in connection to the shooting:
Myrtle Beach municipal judges denied bonds for Stewart, Tyson, Griffin and Brown Jr., as the four men appeared in court on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Both Tyson and Brown Jr. were free on bond on charges in Chesterfield County at the time of the shooting.
Myrtle Beach police Detective Chris White said at one hearing the two groups fired across Ocean Boulevard from each other. He noted a baby was almost shot in the cross fire.
“The weather was nice, there was lots of people out,” White said. “The defendant was indiscriminately shooting.”
Myrtle Beach Police Che if Amy Prock said on Wednesday the incident put the community and tourists in danger.
“This is a reckless shooting and it put a lot of lives in danger,” Prock said.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 12:56 PM.
