S.C. bar gunfire leaves 2 people dead
HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- Two people were killed and seven people were injured early Sunday in a shooting at a bar in South Carolina, officials said.
The shooting took place at Mac's Lounge in Hartsville, Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee told news outlets.
The conditions of those injured weren't immediately clear. No further details, including what led to the shooting, were immediately released. He said more information would be released later Sunday.
The coroner said the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division would help process the scene.
According to its Facebook page, Mac's Lounge also serves as a music venue.
Hartsville is about 25 miles northwest of Florence, S.C., and about 40 miles south of the North Carolina state line.
3 people missing after river accident
LULING, La. -- Three people are missing after two barge towing vessels collided Sunday on the Mississippi River in an accident that also may have released toxic vapor into the air, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said in a news release that the two vessels collided Sunday morning near Luling.
The towing vessel RC Creppel sank, and three people aboard are missing. A fourth person was rescued by a private boater.
The RC Creppel was pushing two barges carrying sulfuric acid and the barges broke away during the accident. One of these barges was damaged in the incident and reportedly released an unknown amount of vapor into the air, the Coast Guard said. The immediate area was closed to vessel traffic as a safety precaution.
"This is a complex response that has a search-and-rescue component, as well as a pollution component that will require planning and coordination to execute," Capt. Kristi Luttrell, the commanding officer of the New Orleans sector said in a statement.
"We are working alongside our partners at the state and local levels to quickly assess the situation so that we can safely make every effort to find the missing mariners and minimize any further impact to the environment."
The other towing vessel involved in the accident is named the Cooperative Spirit.
Off-duty Birmingham police officer shot
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- An off-duty Birmingham police officer was shot Sunday while responding to a robbery, the department chief said.
Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith told news outlets that Detective John Finke was shot twice in the abdomen. Two suspects are in custody, he said.
"He has made it through surgery and is in critical condition," Smith told reporters. "We are praying very hard for him."
The shooting happened in the Woodlawn community where the officer was working security at a church Sunday morning. Smith said it appears the officer "may have observed the robbery in progress" and responded.
Smith said the officer confronted the suspects, and that's when the shooting occurred. Smith said the officer returned fire, but it does not appear the suspects were hit. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will investigate since it is an officer-involved shooting, the chief said.
Investigators took two people into custody after tracking two cellphones stolen in the robbery, Smith said. He said investigators also recovered a gun that will be tested to see if it was the one used to shoot the detective.
Finke has been with the department since 2005 and is a detective in the narcotics division, Smith said. He was working security at the Church of the Highlands, a large nondenominational church.
Wounded in attack, postal worker dies
JACKSON, Miss -- A Mississippi postal worker who was shot while delivering mail Jan. 16 has died, a postal inspector said.
Sherry Ingold died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson on Friday night, Postal Inspector Tony Robinson told The Clarion Ledger.
Ingold was shot in the head while delivering mail along a highway in Attala County. Authorities have charged a man in the shooting.
"The Postal Service is shocked and saddened by the events that occurred [Jan. 16] in the West, Mississippi area. We are especially grieving the loss of our postal family member, rural letter carrier Sherry Ingold, and we continue to keep her family in our thoughts," U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Tracie Finley said in a statement Saturday.
The community rallied around Ingold by hosting prayer vigils and placing purple bows along her mail route.
Roland Dampeer, 28, faces faces federal charges of attempted murder and assault on a postal worker. Prosecutors may upgrade the charges with Ingold's death.
Attala County Sheriff Tim Nail told WVTA that Dampeer had tried unsuccessfully to kidnap a woman from the Sunflower Grocery Store in Kosciusko. Ingold was delivering mail along Mississippi 35 North when she was shot in the head.
The sheriff said a state trooper shot Dampeer, and he was transported to the hospital and later released into federal custody.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 01/27/2020