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Some veterans using marijuana to cope with PTSD symptoms A6
Century-old slate tiles removed from St. Anne’s
Suspect denied bond Man charged in 2004 club shooting BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com
RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
A Square-It-Up Roofing employee uses a hammer to pound in exposed nails on a steeple at St. Anne Catholic Church on Monday. The crew is replacing the slate tiles with typical asphalt shingles for the entire roof. The slate tiles had been on the edifice’s twin steeples for 106 years.
Third Judicial District Circuit Judge Jeffrey Young denied bond for Muttaquin Abdullah, the 43-year-old Columbia man facing a murder charge, among several others, for a fatal shooting at Club Lion Pitt in 2004. Prosecutors claim Abdullah, who was a bouncer at the club at the time of the shooting, fired a .45 caliber handgun outside of the establishment striking a 26-year-old man in the head and another man in the leg. The 26-year-old victim, David Way, died of his injury while the other victim, Marrell McBride, then 21, survived. Abdullah’s attorney, Tim W. Murphy, requested that his client be set a reasonable bond so that he could be kept under house arrest at the residence of his aunt and uncle in Columbia. Murphy said he does not consider his client a flight risk because he would remain under federal supervision if he were released. Referencing a witness account included in law enforcement reports of the 2004 shooting, the defense attorney said Abdullah’s intention was not malicious, and his client was concerned that someone else at the club had a weapon and would shoot someone. Third Judicial Circuit Solicitor Ernest “Chip” Finney III told the judge that Abdullah signed an agreement stating that he is not eligible to carry a firearm before he was released from prison in January 2000. The solicitor argued against Murphy’s comment that Abdullah was concerned for others when he fired the gun. He fired willy-nilly into a crowd of about 150 people at least seven times, Finney said. The victims were not involved in an altercation at the club, he said. Finney said a bullet found in Abdullah’s pocket after the club shooting matched the bullets in the handgun
SEE BOND, PAGE A7
Tractor-trailer driver cited in Wednesday afternoon wreck
City color-codes hydrants by capacity
BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com
Castro Vincentes, was taken to a Columbia-area hospital where she remains in critical condition. Her condition is said to be improving, according to McGirt. Vincentes was trapped inside the SUV after the collision, and firefighters used the Jaws of Life to remove the driver’s door in order to get her out of the vehicle. A nearly 2-years-old child who was riding with Vincentes was treated at Palmetto Health Toumey and was later released. McGirt encourages drivers to be more cautious, especially during Easter weekend when
Residents may wonder why Sumter city officials color code fire hydrants. On Tuesday, Sumter Water and Sewer Division employee Bobby Powell painted green over a yellow hydrant on East Hampton Avenue a few blocks east of Main Street. Was that a timely expression of Easter colors? No, said Lt. Will Glover of Sumter Fire Department. He explained that city employees paint the hydrants according to their flow rates, not for the aesthetics of the area. Firefighters use them to determine how much water they can supply to a fire in a particular area.
SEE WRECK, PAGE A7
SEE HYDRANTS, PAGE A7
The driver of the tractortrailer truck involved in the wreck at North Lafayette and Loring drives at about 3 p.m. Wednesday has been cited for disregarding a traffic signal. Sumter Police Department Public Information Officer Tonyia McGirt said Reginald E. Lawrence, 24, of Shelby, North Carolina, was traveling north on Lafayette Drive when the truck struck the driver’s side of a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV that was traveling west on Loring Drive. She said Lawrence was not injured in the wreck but the driver of the SUV, 35-year-old
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DEATHS, B4 and B5 Jacob Boatwright Christine R. McPherson Mae Sanders James A. Scarborough Betty J. Merchant
Bobby Powell, an employee with Sumter Water and Sewer Division, paints a fire hydrant green to match with a color code for an 8-inch water line.
BY RICK CARPENTER rick@theitem.com
Joseph Jenkins Harvey W. Shaw Jr. Mary P. Pleasant Harry Lane Driggers Daisy B. Samuel
RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
WEATHER, A12
INSIDE
WARM AND RAINY
2 SECTIONS, 24 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 136
Warm but wet today with good chance of rain; cloudy and warm tonight with rain tapering off in evening. HIGH 79, LOW 58
Classifieds B7 Comics A10
Opinion A11 Television A9