IN SPORTS: Check out The Sumter Item’s full coverage of Friday’s football action B1 REVIEW
Van Morrison out with new album, his best in 20 years SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2016
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Station to air man’s near-death story Boy charged BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com Robert Johnson had been working as a captain at Lee Correctional Institution for 15 years before his career — and nearly his life — was ended by six bullets in 2010. He’s been written about in newspapers and interviewed on TV, and now Johnson’s story will be told in a radio drama by Pacific Gardens Mission for its Unshackled program. Its two 30-minute acts can be heard at 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday on Sumter’s WSSC 1340 AM. Johnson, whose primary job was to keep contraband from entering the prison, said he was shot for what the inmates in the Crips gang called “not
allowing them to eat.” “That meant not letting them make any money from selling dope and cellphones because (my team) prevented them from being smuggled in,” Johnson said. “In 15 years, I learned the slang of the Crips gang.” He said he’d been told the gang was after him, but Johnson never dreamed he’d be attacked in his home, he said. “We had been hurting the gang, costing them about $300,000,” Johnson said. “We’d recently intercepted a large package the Crips expected to make $50,000 from.” The Crips paid a gang member $6,000 to kill him, and early one morning in March,
SEE RADIO, PAGE A7
in father’s killing, school shooting
AP FILE PHOTO
Capt. Robert Johnson, right, talks in 2014 with Lloyd Greer, who investigated a plot to kill Johnson, at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, where Johnson was in charge of preventing contraband from entering the prison. Shot six times with his survival in doubt, Johnson’s inspirational story has been made into a radio drama that will be broadcast Monday and Tuesday by Sumter radio station WSSC AM 1340.
‘Good things going on’ SAFE sponsors picnic at Shaw for 1,500 airmen BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com “Feeding 1,500 airmen is a significant event,” said Shaw Air Force Base Commander Col. Daniel Lasica at the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce’s annual Shaw Appreciation Picnic Friday at the base, sponsored by SAFE Federal Credit Union. Lasica said it is one more example of the friendship between the base and the local community. “It’s been a long, strong partnership and it just continues,” he said. He said the airmen were having a great time at the picnic. A steady stream of airmen were able to enjoy freshly cooked hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as coleslaw and beans catered by New Beginnings Catering and cookies, many of them homemade. The food was served by JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM Sumter and Shaw dignitaries, Col. Daniel Lasica, left, and Sumter County Commissioner James McCain serve hamburgers and hot including Col. Lasica, Sumter
dogs to hungry airmen at the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce Shaw Appreciation Picnic SEE PICNIC, PAGE A7 Friday at Shaw Air Force Base.
Adventurous have fun on carnival rides BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
TODAY AT THE FAIR
Food seemed to be foremost on the minds of many attendees to the Sumter County Fair on Thursday evening. It’s not difficult to understand as fairgoers braved the smell of everything from bratwurst to turkey legs roasting on a gauntlet of grills. Various booths enticed hungry visitors with such fried delights as ice cream and alligator, but what seemed to be Sumterites’ favorite feast was French fries from the Potato House. At one point, the fundraiser for the Helping Hands charity had by far the longest line on the fairgrounds. It was not uncommon to see visitors loaded up with
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10 a.m. – GATES OPEN 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. – All exhibits on display Noon – Judging: Pony and horse show All day – All American Petting Zoo & Racing Pigs 5:30 & 8 p.m. – Magic of Lance Gifford 6 & 8:45 p.m. – High Flying Pages 6:45 & 9:30 p.m. – On the Edge Midnight – Midway closes
more than one big cup containing strips of the starchy vegetable speckled with salt and doused in vinegar. As attendees walk among the bright flashing lights and sound of barkers tempting passersby to try their games of chance or skill, the more adventurous climb aboard a variety of gravity-defying,
JIM HILLEY / THE SUMTER ITEM
A blizzard of light, sound and smell greets visitors to the Sumter County Fair. stomach-churning, squeal-inducing apparatuses designed to fling the human body
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around in an adrenaline
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ANDERSON (AP) — A 14-year-old South Carolina boy was charged as a juvenile Friday with murder and three counts of attempted murder after authorities say he killed his father and opened fire on students at a school playground, wounding three people. The boy did not show any emotion as he walked into the courtroom wearing a yellow jumpsuit. He was unrestrained, not wearing handcuffs or leg shackles, as required by state law in most juvenile cases. His lawyer, Frank Epps, noted that the teen has given a statement to law enforcement and asked that investigators not question him again without his lawyer present. The judge agreed to that, and ordered the teen to be held in jail. The boy’s mother sat on the front row during the brief hearing and left the courtroom sobbing and leaning on another woman. The Associated Press typically does not identify juveniles charged with crimes. Authorities say the teen shot his 47-year-old father Jeffrey Osborne at their home on Wednesday afternoon before driving a pickup truck 3 miles down a country road to Townville Elementary. The teen — who is not old enough to have a driver’s license — had to make only two turns to arrive at the red brick school, where he crashed the truck, got out and started firing during recess. Bullets struck two students, critically injuring one of them, and a first-grade teacher. The building was immediately placed on lock down. Authorities have not released a motive for the killing or the school shooting. They have said the boy was being homeschooled, but have not explained why. Prosecutors haven’t given any indication about whether they will ask to try the teen as an adult. When juveniles accused of violent crimes are 14 or 15, a prosecutor has 30 days to ask a family court judge to try the teen as an adult. If denied, the prosecutor can appeal to the circuit court, which can order the transfer. Sixteen-year-olds accused of murder are automatically tried as an adult in South Carolina. Anderson 4 Superintendent Joanne Avery said staff saved lives by flawlessly implementing active-shooter training drills conducted with students at Townville Elementary, most recently as last week. A teacher, though shot in the shoulder, “was with-it enough” to close the door, lock it and barricade the students, Avery said. “If he’d gotten in the school, it would’ve been a different scenario,” she said. The shooter then fired toward students on the playground but missed. A teacher who heard the first gunshot was able to get those students
SEE CHARGED, PAGE A7
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INSIDE
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
2 SECTIONS, 16 PAGES VOL. 121, NO. 293
A little cooler today, sunny and nice with little chance of rain; tonight, partly cloudy and cool. HIGH 84, LOW 58
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