Woman arrested over gunfire outside Aiken County McDonald’s

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A woman has been arrested in connection with a shooting incident that drew Aiken County deputies to Midnight Pass, just off Exit 11 on eastbound Interstate 20.

A juvenile victim told deputies three females had come to the McDonald’s at that address around 4 p.m. Sunday to fight with an employee.

The juvenile was laughing at the situation as the three left, then he walked outside and they confronted him and then began punching him in the face and pulling his hair, deputies reported.

A girl jumped out of a car and pulled a gun, the victim told deputies, and the victim said he felt the gunshot and thought he’d been hit in the head.

The victim ran back into the restaurant and started yelling for help, then got behind the counter to hide.

Deputies say the woman who was ultimately arrested, Stephanie Brown, 41, of Graniteville, ran into the McDonald’s looking for the victim.

While on the scene, Brown called dispatchers and said she was at the QT gas station next door when she dropped her purse, causing the gun to fire, according to authorities.

Brown also later told deputies she had pulled out her gun to fire a warning shot, then decided not to. Deputies also said she claimed she went to grab a female and the gun went off.

Deputies said they found a 9 mm shell casing where the scuffle took place.

Brown was arrested and held in Aiken County jail on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person and pointing a presenting a firearm at a person.

She’d been released by 6 p.m. Monday.

A bloody week

The shooting was one of the latest in an outbreak of shootings across the CSRA in the past week:

• A man was shot to death Saturday night in the 400 block of Second Street in Thomson.
• A shooting Saturday afternoon left one man injured in the 1700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Augusta.
• A 43-year-old man was shot dead early Friday in the 1100 block of Wren Lane just outside Louisville.
• A 15-year-old boy was killed Thursday in a shooting at Windsor Spring Road and Rosier Road outside a convenience store that’s seen more than one deadly shooting in recent years.
• Late Thursday, a man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a woman was injured in a shooting on Henry Street in Augusta.
• A North Augusta 18-year-old is facing a charge of attempted murder after shooting his dad Wednesday night.
• And on Monday, a Graniteville 19-year-old died after being found shot on Redd Street near Tennessee Avenue in Aiken.

The shootings are all part of an outbreak of violence that’s claimed more than 90 lives in a little over a year across the CSRA.

The outbreak has affected communities large and small on both sides of the Savannah River, although as the largest community, Augusta has been hit hard.

Many of the victims and suspects have been young men, and authorities have blamed much of the problem on gangs.

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