Suspect caught in York after victim shot in car following Rock Hill fight, police say
A Rock Hill man was caught in York and arrested Wednesday, a week after a victim was shot in a car in Rock Hill, police said.
Leopold Malachi Cockman, 20, was charged Wednesday on outstanding warrants of attempted murder, shooting into a vehicle, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to police and court records.
Rock Hill Police Department officers from the Violent Crime Unit and York County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Group deputies took Cockman in custody Wednesday, police said.
The shooting happened on March 23 on Cauthen Street in Rock Hill, according to a Rock Hill police incident report. Cauthen Street is in a residential neighborhood near Dave Lyle Boulevard.
The 28-year-old victim was found wounded on a porch of a home on Cauthen Street, said Rock Hill police spokesman Lt. Michael Chavis.
An investigation showed the victim had been in an altercation with a third person, Chavis said. Cockman is accused of firing several shots at the victim as the victim was leaving the area after the fight, Chavis said.
The victim was shot in the chest but survived, police said.
Cockman has past convictions from 2020 and 2019 for domestic violence and assault and battery, South Carolina court records show.
All three charges against Cockman from the March 23 shooting are felonies under South Carolina law. He faces as much as 45 years in prison if convicted of all three charges. Attempted murder carries up to 30 years, shooting into a car carries up to 10 years, and the weapons charge carries five years, state law shows.
Cockman remains in the Rock Hill Law Center jail pending a bond hearing on the charges from the March 23 shooting.
