Rock Hill police search for leads in Lucas Street shooting death of man, 28

A 28-year-old man died after he was shot Thursday night at apartments on Lucas Street in Rock Hill, but the investigation has not yielded any suspects, police said.

The shooting death of Ladarrus Crawford at a building at 825 Lucas St. is being investigated as a murder, police said.

But of late Friday officers still were “at ground zero” on a motive for why Crawford was shot and did not have significant leads on a shooter or a suspect.

“We are actively looking for leads,” said Capt. Mark Bollinger, spokesman for the Rock Hill Police Department.

Signs at the apartments claim that there are video cameras in use on the property where the shooting appeared to happen. Bollinger confirmed that the apartments have “multiple cameras,” and detectives are going through video footage of the area.

“We are working through it all to see if the video has information we can use,” Bollinger said.

Just after 9 p.m. Thursday, police said Crawford left his apartment in the building at 825 Lucas St. to put something in his car, Crawford’s girlfriend told police, according to an incident report. The victim was shot before going back inside, the report says.

Officers found Crawford on the floor of the kitchen, and he died at the scene.

The girlfriend, who was not identified, told officers she heard one gunshot, the report states.

Neighbors around the apartments on Lucas Street, sandwiched between Glencairn Garden and the Rock Hill branch of the YMCA, said the neighborhood of single-family homes and apartment complexes close to Winthrop University is generally quiet. However, a shooting unnerved many of them.

“My mom saw flashing lights outside last night, but the police didn’t tell anyone here anything,” said Brandon Simmons, 27, who lives in the apartment complex across the street. “We all have to pray for the woman who had to see him after he was shot.”

Marquis Evans, 21, who said he has lived on the street since childhood, called the neighborhood “extremely quiet,” and said it is rare to see any police activity.

“Right now, people have enough to worry about with the hurricane (Irma), and now we find out the next day that someone was killed almost right across the street,” Evans said.

Neighbors in homes and other apartments did not appear to have been alerted to a homicide just yards from where they live. Another neighbor on Lucas Street who has lived there 21 years said there has not been any violent incident he can recall since a shooting death more than two decades ago.

“I saw more police cars rushing down the street last night than any other time since I have lived here,” said the man who did not want his name used.

Still another neighbor who did want to give his name, who lives near the intersection of Lucas Street and Charlotte Avenue, wanted to know more deatils from police such as whether the crime was a random act of violence or if the victim was targeted for some reason.

“I want to know, if I should be worried for my safety and for my family,” the man said.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast identified Crawford as the shooting victim, and autopsy and toxicology results are pending.

Andrew Dys: 803-329-4065, @AndrewDysHerald

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Rock Hill police search for leads in Lucas Street shooting death of man, 28."