Report: Friends ‘just hanging out’ when gunfire began in North Charleston

A group of friends were “just hanging out” on a front porch during the weekend when a hail of gunfire sent them ducking for cover, according to police reports.

Two people were hit, one fatally.

Adrian King, 21, dropped to the steps of the two-story apartment house at 1904 Success St. and later died of a single gunshot wound to his head, neighbors said.

The North Charleston Police Department continued Monday to search for the man they said fired the shots around 11 p.m. Friday. Torren Eady, a 19-year-old resident of nearby Leland Street, is wanted on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Police investigators said Eady had been arguing with members of the group earlier in the evening when they helped his child’s mother retrieve the child from him.

Neighbors said Eady, known as “Tezo,” was accompanied by at least two other men who approached the apartment house through a side alleyway. Eady, who was wearing a fishing hat, started yelling at the group, then pulled out a handgun, according to an incident report.

One of the neighbors, who refused to be named for fear of retribution, heard the gunshots, then saw the men running across Spruill Avenue and the railroad tracks toward Leland Street where Eady lives.

“There were seven or eight gunshots,” he said. “I closed my door. As soon as I went inside, I saw them running.”

The bullets also drove the group into the home as “everyone started screaming,” the report states.

One member of the group, a 19-year-old man identified in police reports only as “Marty,” was shot in the leg. He was lying on the kitchen floor and tending to the wound, which wasn’t life-threatening, when police officers arrived, according to the report.

Eady has only one arrest in his history in South Carolina: for failure to appear in court on a traffic offense in November 2010.

King had arrests for nonviolent crimes, including burglary and petty theft, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.

Contacted at her home Monday, King’s mother, Adrienne King, declined to offer immediate comment.

Friends in the community Monday, who also asked to remain anonymous, said King was known as “Tootie” or “Toot Toot.” He was described as perpetually joking and acting “silly.”