One person fatally shot in York County, 14-year-old charged with murder
A 14-year-old boy in South Carolina is charged with murder after a woman was fatally shot Tuesday in York County, Sheriff Kevin Tolson and prosecutors said.
The name of the juvenile has not been released. The victim was identified Wednesday by York County Coroner Sabrina Gast as Alethea Puckett Totherow, 56.
The relationship between the juvenile and Totherow has not been released.
Whitney Payne, a prosecutor of juvenile cases for the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, told The Herald Wednesday morning the male suspect has been charged as a juvenile. The charge is murder.
It has not been made public when the suspect will have an initial appearance in South Carolina Family Court in Rock Hill, Payne said.
The juvenile remains in the custody of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, officials said.
The shooting and SWAT
Sheriff’s deputies and York County SWAT were called to Sutton Springs Road, west of the town of York, Tuesday afternoon after 1:30 p.m when a shooting incident was reported, Tolson said.
Sheriff’s office deputies have not released any other information about the shooting or hours-long standoff with SWAT afterward. The arrest warrant in the case has not yet been released.
It remains unclear how the juvenile gained access to the weapon.
“The juvenile was taken into custody for a homicide-related charge,” sheriff’s office spokesman Cpl. Johnathan Gilbert said in a written release to The Herald Wednesday morning.
Sutton Springs Road, which crosses S.C. 5, was closed for hours and traffic was detoured.
A large police presence that included K-9, the sheriff’s office drone team, and SWAT could be seen for several hours, sheriff’s officials said. York County SWAT has members from several police and law enforcement agencies in York County.
The fatal shooting is the second incident in a week in York County where a juvenile was charged.
In Rock Hill, a 15-year-old juvenile was charged with murder by the Rock Hill Police Department in connection to a shooting April 26 where three teens died. Another 17-year-old teen was charged, as an adult, with murder in that case.
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This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 8:19 AM.
