CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A murder suspect was denied bond Friday morning following a shooting in Cherokee County.
We previously reported Cherokee County deputies responded at 7:59 a.m. on July 24 in reference to a shooting with injuries on Union Highway in Gaffney.
Once deputies arrived on the scene, they located an unresponsive man with a gunshot wound. The Cherokee County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Mark Kevin Bruckler II, 42, of Blacksburg.
Based on information gathered during the investigation, deputies determined the victim and suspect, Leonard Herbert Finch, were engaged in an argument.
Flinch shot Bruckler and ran from the scene with the assistance of his mother, Sheila Mayfield Finch helped him get away.
She was later arrested and charged with accessory after the fact to a felony, the sheriff’s office said.
Police in Wheeling, West Virginia said they were notified by a detective from South Carolina that Leonard Finch may have been in the East Wheeling area, according to our sister station WTRF.
Investigators also provided police with the nickname of someone who Finch may have been with.
Wheeling Police said they recognized the person whose nickname they were given and knew that he frequented homeless encampments in one section of the city.
Officers said they found Finch in the area of 18th Street and Eoff Street and he was taken into custody without incident.
On Friday morning, Finch appeared before a judge who denied his bond on the charges of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Finch will remain in the Cherokee County Detention Center until his trial.