Published: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009 07:18 AM

Local news in brief

Three suspects arrested in Chester Co. shooting

RICHBURG -- Three Lancaster men are behind bars, and a victim was hospitalized after a Sunday morning shooting in the parking lot of a Richburg night club, authorities said.

Chester County deputies were clearing the parking lot of Club Fantasy around 4 a.m. Sunday when several shots were fired, according to a press release issued Monday by Chester County Sheriff Richard Smith.

Marquis LeMon White, 19, of Lancaster was hit by a bullet during the shooting. He was taken to an area hospital where his condition is unknown.

The suspected shooters fled the parking lot but were stopped by the state Highway Patrol a short time later, the release stated.

Calvin Peavy, 26; Demarcus Massey, 24; and Russell Massey, 21, were charged Sunday morning with assault and battery with intent to kill, a Chester County jail official said.

Bond was denied for all three.

Two handguns were found inside the vehicle they were in, both of which appeared to have been fired recently, the release stated.

The motive for the shooting is unknown, Smith said.

— Kimberly Dick

Police: Teens flooded laundry room for change

Police suspect three children vandalized a Rock Hill apartment complex laundry room — leaving it flooded — in attempts to steal change from the coin-operated machines.

An employee of Market Place Apartments, 1333 Coronet Court, found the laundry room flooded and told police the lock on a coin-operated dryer had been opened, according to Rock Hill police reports.

The report stated it looked as though someone was trying to get the coins in the machine. About $200 in damage was done to the dryer in the process, but no money was taken.

Police suspect two 13-year-olds and one 11-year-old boy were involved in the incident.

— Kimberly Dick

75 car batteries stolen from new Walmart

Seventy-five car batteries were taken from the area's newest Walmart last week, police said.

Sometime between Tuesday and Friday, someone cut the lock to the battery cage and made off with about 75 car batteries, according to Rock Hill Police reports.

The batteries were valued at $4,618, the report stated.

Walmart, at 4875 Old York Road in the Newport area, did not have cameras in the area of the batteries, the report stated.

— Kimberly Dick

Catawba Nuclear to test siren Wednesday

Catawba Nuclear Station sirens will be tested at 11:50 a.m. Wednesday to ensure they're working properly.

The 3-minute test is performed once each quarter, and no public action is required.

In case of an emergency, hearing the sirens does not mean to evacuate. The siren sounding is a signal for residents to tune into a radio or TV station that would carry an emergency alert message from county officials.

Clover man robbed when he stops to help motorist

A good Samaritan was robbed in Clover on Monday while helping what he thought was a stranded motorist, police said.

A 49-year old Clover man was driving on S.C. 557 toward Hwy. 49 around 4:30 a.m. when he stopped to help someone parked along the side of the road. The driver, an unknown man between 18 to 22 years old, said he needed jumper cables and a jump.

After the victim pulled up near the other car, a man wearing a hockey mask pointed a silver handgun at him and ordered him to turn over all his money, according to the report.

The driver had no money, so the suspect demanded that he leave his cell phone.

The victim was unable to give a detailed description of the suspect, other than the man was wearing a dark hooded sweat shirt and it appeared he had large hair. The suspect left in a gray mid-sized car.

— Shannon Greene

Hagins-Fewell Street community to meet

The Hagins-Fewell Street Community Association will meet at 7 p.m. today at the Rock Hill Police Substation on Sunset Drive.

Chrys Tuttle with the City of Rock Hill will speak.

For more information, call Zelma Reddick at 803-366-8449.

— Barbara Barkley

Rock Hill band wins top awards at competition

The Rock Hill High School Band of Distinction won three top awards at the Mauldin High School Tournament of Bands on Saturday in Mauldin. The band competed against 15 other bands from across the state placed first in Class 6, Gold Division Champion and Grand Champion.

— Shawn Cetrone

York Co. has swine flu vaccine but not enough

York County was among the first to receive shipments of the H1N1 flu vaccine Friday, but the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said it's not enough to offer to the public.

DHEC declined to say how many vaccines arrived or where they were shipped.

For now, only small amounts of the swine flu nasal-mist vaccine have arrived at health departments and private health care providers around the state. Most of those doses will go to health care workers.

Once more shipments arrive at county health departments, the public can find out the vaccination clinic schedule by checking scdhec.gov/flu, which has information about both H1N1 and seasonal flu.

Clinics might begin offering vaccines by the end of October.