SC-Hunting Land Dispute Leads To 3 Dead and 1 Injured

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The shooting erupted around 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, near a home on Griffin Road in the Woodruff area, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article293257774.html#storylink=cpy

"In conjunction with the Coroner's Office release, Friday night, September 27, 2024, at approximately 8:00 PM, deputies responded to 115 Griffin Rd., Woodruff, SC, 29388, in reference to multiple people being shot. Upon arrival, deputies discovered three deceased victims and also learned a fourth shooting victim had been transported by a personal vehicle to a hospital in Simpsonville with non life threatening injuries. Once some witnesses were separated and interviewed, it appears this incident stemmed from a dispute over who had permission to be on this particular place of hunting land. Some family members of the decedents were also witnesses to this incident, and their interviews were conducted over the weekend once they had time to process the event. Our investigation remains active, and additional information will only be released after a consultation with the Solicitor's Office. All involved parties have been identified, and there isn't any threat to the public."
Possible hunting land dispute leaves 3 dead in Spartanburg County, officials say

At the scene, they found Paul Higgins, 38, of Woodruff, Jeremy Faulkner, 34, of Woodruff and Nicolas Long, 22 of Greenville, dead in a wooded area.
https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/three-found-shot-in-the-woods-near-woodruff/
 
worm said:
They aren’t saying a word about who the shooter may have been. But trust them.
Click to expand...
Of the dead men, two resided in Woodruff and the other Greenville, I am going to guess they may have been hunting together and strayed onto land not their own? Perhaps the landowners are the shooters and the victims were trespassing?

Shooting people seems pretty extreme for trespassing though. I mean I know it happens, but what else could have preceded this situation?
 
tlcya said:
Of the dead men, two resided in Woodruff and the other Greenville, I am going to guess they may have been hunting together and strayed onto land not their own? Perhaps the landowners are the shooters and the victims were trespassing?

Shooting people seems pretty extreme for trespassing though. I mean I know it happens, but what else could have preceded this situation?
Click to expand...
Drinking.?
 
tlcya said:
Of the dead men, two resided in Woodruff and the other Greenville, I am going to guess they may have been hunting together and strayed onto land not their own? Perhaps the landowners are the shooters and the victims were trespassing?

Shooting people seems pretty extreme for trespassing though. I mean I know it happens, but what else could have preceded this situation?
Click to expand...

The survivor was driven to the ER in a private car so how many witnesses were there? They haven’t said anything about hunting a suspect.
 

This article says around 9pm.

Who is hunting at 9pm on a Friday night? Is that a normal time to hunt?

Also, that night/Saturday morning was when Hurricane Helene was going through, I believe. I wonder what type of weather was going on at the time?

ETA: Spartanburg had some pretty significant damage from the hurricane. This article confirms the storm rolled through Friday night & outlines some of the damage, "He worked his shift as Helene blew through, and when he got off around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 27, his power was out and an electrical wire behind his apartment was sparking.":
www.postandcourier.com

Spartanburg shocked by Helene's wrath, as death toll mounts and daily life is halted

In the day after Helene's destruction, the Spartanburg County community felt a collective shock at the havoc and death the storm left behind as it tore through.
www.postandcourier.com www.postandcourier.com

I wonder if this is about more than hunting?
 
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worm said:
I guessed that they had hunted until near dark, which isn’t unusual. The storm had eased off Friday afternoon.
Click to expand...
If the storm eased off, it was probably because one of the outer bands had passed through. But there were more/worse storms overnight & into Saturday morning.
 
vls12345 said:

This article says around 9pm.

Who is hunting at 9pm on a Friday night? Is that a normal time to hunt?

Also, that night/Saturday morning was when Hurricane Helene was going through, I believe. I wonder what type of weather was going on at the time?

ETA: Spartanburg had some pretty significant damage from the hurricane. This article confirms the storm rolled through Friday night & outlines some of the damage, "He worked his shift as Helene blew through, and when he got off around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 27, his power was out and an electrical wire behind his apartment was sparking.":
www.postandcourier.com

Spartanburg shocked by Helene's wrath, as death toll mounts and daily life is halted

In the day after Helene's destruction, the Spartanburg County community felt a collective shock at the havoc and death the storm left behind as it tore through.
www.postandcourier.com www.postandcourier.com

I wonder if this is about more than hunting?
Click to expand...
Press release says deputies were called to the property at 8pm. Reports say the dispute was about hunting land but maybe the shooting was not about hunting per se. Maybe the trespassers weren't hunting at the time, but scouting for a later poaching opportunity, scouting and planning where to put a blind or tree stand. but 8pm seems late unless they had already been hunting that day and were on their way out when caught? and yes, the weather would not seem to be conducive to hunting. Maybe not even animals being hunted, perhaps ginseng? I think they are in season between September and March or April. hmmm. Think I need more info before I know even how to speculate about this one.
 
I think deer season for archery is going on now but gun season isn’t until tomorrow unless it has changed in 25 years. I agree @ticya, much info is needed.
 
Helene had exited the state by then but there was plenty things needing to be done in the wake of the storm.
Bizarre to me that somebody after all they had experienced riding out the hurricane would jump up and say “hey y’all, let’s go hunting!”.
Very sketchy to me.
 
StarryStarryNight said:
Helene had exited the state by then but there was plenty things needing to be done in the wake of the storm.
Bizarre to me that somebody after all they had experienced riding out the hurricane would jump up and say “hey y’all, let’s go hunting!”.
Very sketchy to me.
Click to expand...

Diehard fishing folks will do about anything to go as well.
 
Archery season in SC started today (Oct 1) so my guess is they were scouting good spots and two groups (or one group and one solitary hunter) came across one another. Could be none of them owns the land but all thought they had permission.

The people I know who hunt get written permission, signed by the landowner, but I've still heard stories of multiple hunters in the same area thinking they had permission (or at least claiming they did).

I would guess it's all non-landowners involved, or maybe some landowner relatives. MOO.
 
Maybe they were preparing the land for hunting season. Seems a serious reaction to a hunting land dispute. IMO

Deer hunting in Spartanburg SC -
In South Carolina, deer hunting season in Spartanburg, which is in Game Zone 2, varies by weapon type and location:
  • Bow and crossbow: September 15–30
    Primitive weapons: October 1–10
    Gun: October 11–January 1



 
tlcya said:
Perhaps the landowners are the shooters and the victims were trespassing?
but what else could have preceded this situation?
Click to expand...
That is a clear possibility. Another possibility could be centered around a large plot of land forming the basis of a 'hunting club'.

Basically, hunters pay the land owner for permission to hunt on a piece of land. The payments are sometimes defined as membership fees in hunting club. The land owner can also be a member, or be near entirely absentee.

Likewise, the club can be formal, or just be "the guys with leases". Members can make improvements to the land to facilitate growth in numbers of targeted species. This takes work and increases the fun for members. But can likely bring in poachers.

In this scenario, I think one group or the other found a person(s) who were not lease payers on the property and there was a confrontation. This then could have led to claims of:

- "I dont need to be a lease paying member, because the owner gave my father special verbal permission years ago to hunt here. The owner then said it was passed to me (whether any of this is true or not, who knows).

- Need to leave now- our lease says only members hunt here! And... the owner confirmed it. Nobody has inherited permission from the depths of time.

- I am Not going anywhere! Things then went downhill.
 
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