Woman hears gunfire, looks out kitchen window, gets killed by bullet, SC coroner says

A South Carolina woman was killed in her own kitchen, when she heard gunfire, looked out the window and was hit by a “stray bullet,” according to Cherokee County officials.

The victim was identified as 42-year-old Kesha Luwan Lucille Tate, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said in a news release.

A neighbor has been arrested and charged with murder in the case, officials said.

It happened Saturday, Aug. 27, at 155 Songbird Lane, about 6 miles north of Gaffney, officials said. The area is near the North Carolina state line.

“According to family members, Tate was in the kitchen of her home about 6:30 p.m. when she heard multiple gunshots,” Fowler said in the release.

“She reportedly was looking out a window when a bullet came through striking her in the chest. Tate was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Investigators with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office say Nicholas Skylar Lucas — who lives behind Tate’s home — was responsible for the gunfire. He was “target practicing and shooting a gun in his backyard,” officials said in a news release.

“While shooting, a bullet struck his neighbor who was standing at the back door, inside the home, causing fatal injuries,” the sheriff’s office says.

Lucas has been charged with murder, discharging a firearm into a dwelling and shooting under the influence, the sheriff’s office said in an update.

Tate lived in a rural neighborhood of about 40 homes, surrounded by a mix of farmland and forest.

“This is a senseless death that could have been avoided had the gun owner ... chosen a safer place to target practice,” Sheriff Steve Mueller said in a news release.

“It is mind blowing that a person thinks it’s all right to target practice or discharge a gun within close proximity (of) so many other homes.”

An autopsy will be performed Monday, Fowler said.

This story was originally published August 28, 2022 at 7:07 AM with the headline "Woman hears gunfire, looks out kitchen window, gets killed by bullet, SC coroner says."