North Charleston Public Works employee dies after being shot on the job

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A North Charleston Public Works employee has died after being shot on the job.

Officers with the North Charleston Police Department responded to a ‘shots fired’ call around 10:49 a.m. and found one of the city’s garbage trucks had been involved in an accident, according to Deputy Chief Angela Johnson. She said the employee was injured inside the truck.

Police believe the employee was collecting garbage on Bayfield Drive when shots were fired that struck the side of the truck.

Deputy Chief Johnson said it was not clear if the employee was shot while outside of the garbage truck; however, they are certain they were shot while inside. The worker was the driver and only occupant.

After being shot, police say the employee tried to leave the scene and then lost control of the vehicle on Dorchester Road not far from Michaux Parkway, where he crashed into a tree along the edge of the Distribution International parking lot.

The employee was taken to Trident Medical Center in critical condition. Police later announced that he had died. His name has not yet been released.

Harrison Schweers works at Distribution International and described to News 2 what he heard and saw Thursday morning.

“Basically I was just out back moving material with our forklift. You know, I had my earphones in just in case anyone called and I heard what sounded like six or seven gunshots and I just thought, ‘no way that’s crazy, that’s not gonna happen,'” Schweers recalled. “And I walked inside two minutes later and that truck was hit, hit that palmetto tree right there. And I guess it was real, I guess they were gun shots.”

North Charleston leaders and officers were on the scene all afternoon investigating and removing the truck from the crash site.

“I’m not too, you know, sketched out but it is pretty wild to think something like that could happen this close,” Schweers said.

An investigation is ongoing. Police believe the shooting was an isolated incident.

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