Man shot at site of 2006 homicide

Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier

Dorchester County Sheriff's officials search the grass along Stratton Drive for evidence in a shooting that occurred Friday at the site of a 2006 homicide.

It must have felt like deja vu to Dorchester County sheriff's deputies.

For the second time, they were called to an address in the Stratton Capers neighborhood off Ashley Phosphate Road to find a young man shot and bleeding in the roadway.

The shooting early Friday was almost identical to a 2006 homicide that remains unsolved, and investigators quickly realized the similarities, sheriff's 1st Sgt Michael Miller said.

About 5:30 a.m. Friday, deputies were called to 38 Stratton Drive, where someone found a man in his 20s lying in the roadway in a pool of blood from a gunshot wound to the head, Miller said.

He remained in critical condition Friday night at Medical University Hospital.

Deputies spent hours knocking on doors in the neighborhood. They didn't release any information, including the young man's name.

Neighbors said he grew up in the area and that his mother was at the hospital with him Friday afternoon.

In May 2006, another family was grieving after 18-year-old Andre Tyrone Williams was shot and killed in front of 38 Stratton Drive. There was blood splatter on the roadway where the former Fort Dorchester High School student was found.

Investigators said then that the house at 38 Stratton was abandoned and that the area was known for drug activity, but neighbors on Friday said Stratton Capers has been quiet recently and without much criminal activity.

Frustrated investigators said in 2006 that no one would talk about Williams' shooting, and the case remains unsolved.

The sheriff's office used to have a substation in a vacant house on Stratton Drive but it closed more than a year ago when the lease expired, and the owner didn't renew it, Miller said.

Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postandcourier.com.