Gunfire at a Midlands gas station sends a man to the hospital.
Investigators say early Sunday morning, a man opened fire at an Exxon in the 5000 block of Fairfield Road. When officers got there they found a man shot in the upper body. What led up to this shooting is still a mystery.
A 22-year-old man was shot by someone almost twice his age. The victim was taken to a Columbia hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
"They are investigating to find out what are the details of the altercation, what led the gentlemen to that particular location," said Richland County spokesperson Monique Mack. "And they are going to look into the matter and see what happened, to even see why someone pulled out a gun."
Forty-two-year-old Quinton Smithson is charged in the shooting. Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center officials say Smithson is a military man. Smithson lives in northeast Richland County in the Summit area. One of his neighbors calls Smithson a relatively quiet man. And investigators are still trying to figure out why bullets flew at the gas station.
"In that area there's no more crime than other areas," Mack said. "So I don't want to to pinpoint that area as being high-crime area."
Mack says the 22-year-old man, whose identity is not being released, is out of the hospital.
Smithson is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He is due in court for a bond hearing Monday morning.
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