Police investigating shooting death of elderly woman at Myrtle Beach Mall as homicide

Horry County police are investigating a shooting at Myrtle Beach Mall that left one elderly woman dead.

Officers responded to the mall about 12:30 p.m. Friday in response to a shooting, according to Lt. Raul Denis with Horry County police.

The 78-year-old victim’s daughter called police after she returned to her car - parked in front of J.C. Penney - and found her mother injured and “slumped over” in the car, Denis said.

The woman, identified as Frances May Davis, was transported to the hospital where she died of a gunshot wound, police said.

Police are treating the incident as a homicide “to make sure we don’t miss anything,” Denis said.

Denis initially said police were unsure if the victim died from a gunshot wound, but police were still treating the incident as a homicide. Denis said there was some blood in the car.

The mall was not placed on lockdown during the incident, according to General Manager Joe Perl. The mall, off U.S. 17 near S.C. 22, is open and shoppers are not in danger, Denis said.

“We don’t have any reason to think anyone is in danger here at the mall,” he said. “We believe this was an isolated incident.”

Davis was the mother of three children and had five grandchildren and seven great-grand children, according to Tamara Willard of the Horry County Coroner's office.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police at 843-915-8477.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Police investigating shooting death of elderly woman at Myrtle Beach Mall as homicide."