Lowe’s customer assaulted, shot at in York; suspects caught after car, foot chase
Two men face charges of shooting at and attacking a store customer Wednesday in York before leading police on a chase, officials said.
Joseph Wayne Allen, 37, of Cowpens, S.C., and Earl Thomas Matthew Erickson, 32, of Gaffney, S.C., were taken into custody around 7 p.m. Wednesday after the chase ended near Sharon, according to York Police Department Chief Andy Robinson.
Erickson is charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to police and jail records. Erickson was free on bond from a 2019 drug charge, South Carolina court records show.
Allen is charged with shoplifting, records show. Additional warrants against both remain pending, officials said.
Police were called to the Lowe’s home improvement center in York when a customer near the garden center was assaulted as two suspects tried to leave the store with stolen items, according to a police report.
One of the suspects fired a shot at the victim who had been beaten, police said. The victim was not wounded by the gunshot, police said.
The suspects fled in a van and tried to drive into a York County Sheriff’s deputy sitting in a patrol car, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
York County deputies chased the suspects, and put stop sticks on the road near Sharon, which is west of York, Faris said. After the van was disabled, both suspects fled on foot, Faris said.
Erickson was captured after deputies used a Taser (electric stun gun), according to a sheriff’s office incident report. Allen was captured by deputies in nearby woods, the sheriff’s report stated.
The case remains under investigation by the York police and county sheriff’s office.
Allen and Erickson remain in the York County jail without bond.
