Three victims of the Columbiana Centre mass shooting recounted their traumatic experiences before a jury Thursday at the trial of one of three men charged in the 2022 shootout at the Columbia mall.
The trial of Jewayne Price began Monday and so far has featured testimony from witnesses including three people who were shot. They told a jury the incident has had a significant impact on their mental health, all saying they’ll never enter a mall again, let alone Columbiana Centre.
On Easter weekend in 2022, 14 people, ages 15 to 73, were injured in the shooting. Three suspects — Marquise Love Robinson, Amari Sincere-Jamal Smith, and Price — were indicted on numerous charges, including attempted murder, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a handgun.
One victim, from Charleston, said she and her family were visiting the mall while returning from Charlotte. She was shot in the knee, and said she continues to suffer from her wound, often having a sensation of blood running down her leg.
“I was in shock,” the woman said. “I was in pain but didn’t realize I’d been shot.”
The State is not naming the victims at the request of Judge Walton McLeod, who is presiding over the trial.
During an immunity hearing in August, lawyers for Price said he was acting in self-defense when he fired at two people he claimed were out to harm him. After two days of testimony in Lexington, McLeod ruled that Price was not immune from prosecution under the state’s “stand your ground” law.
The Charleston victim, who was visiting the mall with her two children, mother and ex-boyfriend, said she saw Price initiate the gunfight as he began firing over his shoulder while running in the opposite direction.
“He walked past me as I was walking toward JCPenney to meet my mom,” the victim said. “Once I reconnected with my mom and was headed back toward the fish spa, he pulled his gun out and start shooting across the mall.” She added that she hasn’t been back to the Columbiana mall — or any other mall — because of the trauma she experienced.
During Price’s immunity hearing, 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard said the self-defense claim was unreasonable because Price fired first. Price said that he let Robinson get close to him and that he pulled his weapon first and shot at him first, Hubbard told McLeod.
Another victim, who was struck in the leg by a bullet while at the mall with his wife, said they both continue to have difficulty sleeping.
“The mental aspects (of the shooting) continue to haunt me,” he said. “We just have to live with it every day.”
Like the first victim, the second person testified that he never plans to return to the mall for fear of another shooting.
A third victim, like the first, testified that she didn’t realize she had been shot. She was at the mall with a friend from out of town when she was hit in the ankle.
But unlike the first victim, she said she didn’t see where the gunfire was coming from.
“When we started hearing the gunshots, we all took off running, and my friend fell,” she said. “I didn’t realize she fell, and her fiance stopped to help her. They ran into the Gap (store), and I ran a little past the Gap to a nearby side door that said ‘employees only.’
“My leg was burning, but I thought the metal door had scraped my leg. One of the (mall) workers got a first aid kit and wiped the blood from around my ankle, and he was like, you know, you’ve been shot. You need to get off of it. So I sat down until (police) started letting people come out of the back of the Gap.”
The third witness said that despite her injuries, she tried to calm down the first witness, whose leg had been placed into a tourniquet by police, as both were taken in the same ambulance to a hospital.
“I was talking to her, trying to keep her mind off of the pain,” the third victim said. “Once we got to the hospital, I was sitting right at the front (of the ambulance), and told (hospital staff) she’s in more pain than me, so take her first.”
While all three victims who testified Thursday had non-life-threatening injuries, they maintained that the shooting has forever changed their lives.
“I (no longer) go to malls because I don’t like to be in enclosed spaces,” the third victim said.
Price is facing two counts of attempted murder, nine counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and unlawful carry of a pistol.
His trial is set to continue next week. After its conclusion, Robinson and Smith are scheduled to be tried.
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