Lexington lawyer arrested

Family laywer James “Jim” O’Connor is facing multiple charges related to a shooting incident that occurred in a Lexington neighborhood.

O’Connor is charged with 1st-degree burglary, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and pointing and presenting a firearm at a person.

According to police reports, O’Connor attended a poker game at a neighbor’s house on Tayser Ct. on April 19.

O’Connor left the neighbor’s house with the poker set and a wallet and was later confronted by 2 men who were also playing poker.

Reports show O’Connor retrieved a gun, returned to the neighbor’s house, and fired a shot into the house, directed at one of the men.

A witness to the incident told the Chronicle O’Connor was uncuffed after being arrested, given a soda, and joked with officers before being recuffed and put into a police cruiser.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for more information.

Gaston woman charged

Lexington County deputies have arrested a Gaston woman on charges related to 2 separate incidents last week.

Shelley Christina Shumpert, 32, is charged with 1stdegree assault and battery, and attempted armed robbery in connection to an incident April 21 in Swansea, according to arrest warrants.

Shumpert is also charged with 2nd-degree burglary and 2 counts of auto tampering after an April 24 incident in Gaston, according to warrants.

Deputies say Shumpert swung a bat at a woman and smashed a window on the woman’s car.

Shumpert demanded the woman’s car keys so she could unlawfully drive away in the car.

Deputies say Shumpert unlawfully entered 2 cars and a home at a Blackville Road residence and stole a power tool.

Deputies located and arrested Shumpert Sunday afternoon. She’s being held in the Lexington County Detention Center.

5 charged in 2019 mob assault

Lexington County detectives have arrested 5 people in connection to an armed robbery on Sharon Church Road last year.

Dominic Dukes, 28, Robert Jeffcoat, 25, Raymond Stierwald Sr., 44, Raymond Stierwald Jr., 24, and Mattie Suggs, 18, are charged with 1st-degree assault and battery, conspiracy, assault by mob, kidnapping and armed robbery, according to arrest warrants.

Stierwald Jr. and Suggs are also charged with pointing and presenting a firearm, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to warrants.

Members of the group punched a man while he was inside a car, according to Sheriff Jay Koon. The man told deputies they also took his hat, watch and cash. Investigators said the group drove away after the man’s friend fired a shot straight up into the air.

Mother and son charged with stealing air conditioner parts

A Lexington woman and her adult son have been charged in the theft of parts used in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Frances Perry, 76, and Clyde Shumpert, 58, are charged with larceny, according to Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon.

“Based on witness interviews and evidence from the scene, deputies determined Shumpert loaded HVAC coils into a car driven by Perry,” Koon said. “This happened Sunday evening on some private property along Edmund Highway.”

Detectives found 12 HVAC coils in a car registered to Perry that was parked in a wooded area of the property, according to Koon.

Perry and Shumpert were arrested on the scene and booked into the Lexington County Detention Center Sunday night.

State of Emergency declared following storms

Governor Henry McMaster issued Executive Order 2020-24 on April 15, declaring a state of emergency in response to the devastation caused by April’s severe weather event.

This declaration does not impact any executive orders issued by the governor in response to the 2019 novel corona virus in any way. It does, however, direct that the state’s Emergency Operations Plan be further placed into effect to continue the state’s response to the severe weather event.

Currently, local emergency management officials are assessing the damage caused by the storms in the impacted counties. Once those assessments are completed and relayed to the SC Emergency Management Division, the governor will request a federal disaster declaration accordingly.

State gets $75M in tobacco settlement

South Carolina will receive $75.25 million from the annual tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Payment.

In 1998, the SC Attorney General’s Office joined 45 other States, the District of Columbia, and 5 US territories in settling claims with the then-4 major US cigarette manufacturers.

The MSA is the largest financial recovery in legal history.

The settlement imposes major restrictions on the industry’s advertising and marketing, and it provides states with annual payments in perpetuity to help reimburse the states for healthcare costs and harm caused by tobacco use.

South Carolina’s payment primarily goes to the SC Department of Health and Human Services for the Medicaid program.