Officer shot during Carolina Country Music Fest. One teen who opened fire heads to jail
A teenager who opened fire on officers, wounding one of them, during the Carolina Country Music Fest in 2023 will spend the next decade in prison.
London Tijae Staggs, 19, of Moore, pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree assault and battery and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, according to a release from 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson.
Staggs was sentenced to 15 years. Chase Benson, the other defendant in the case, is still awaiting trial.
Staggs, who was 17 at the time, originally faced four counts of attempted murder after firing over 20 rounds at officers in a parking garage during the Myrtle Beach festival.
Myrtle Beach Police and two South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents responded to a call about people brandishing firearms, according to an Horry County Police report. Once on the scene, Staggs and Benson ran from the police vehicle before hiding behind cars in the parking lot and then firing at them, according to the release.
One officer was shot and has since recovered from his injuries, the release said.
