MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW)- Horry County Police charged a man who was shot while trying to serve court papers on Shetland Drive in Myrtle Beach on April 12.
Horry County Police cornered off a home on Shetland Drive with crime scene tape after officers responded to a shooting around 4:45 p.m. Sgt. Thomas DelPercio says the shooting happened when an argument broke out during a civil serving process.
Lt. Raul Denis says 51-year-old Jessie Elbery Woody of Myrtle Beach drove off during an argument after trying to serve the papers, and hit the vicim with his car.
Lt. Denis says Woody returned later to try and serve papers to another person at the home, when the argument escalated and he pointed his gun at the two men. According to Lt. Denis, one of the men got his own gun from his car, and fearing for his life, shot Woody.
Woody is charged with two counts of of Pointing and Presenting a Firearm at a Person and one count of Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature.
Sgt. DelPercio says civilians can serve paperwork and no officers were involved. Process servers can serve paperwork for things like family court issues, divorces or lawsuits. Local process servers say it’s a dangerous job and they do their best to be safe.
“We’ve had guns pulled on us and threats made. You know get off my property and things like that. We’ve been chased off somebody’s property before. We try to diffuse the situation, basically don’t kill the messenger. We’re just delivering papers, we don’t have anything to do with this action,” Timothy Moore said.
Moore said he will hold additional training sessions with his process servers in light of the incident and go over court and safety protocols but they are limited in what they can do should a threat arise.
“They cannot carry a weapon on that property. To do that you have to have written permission from the property owner to carry that weapon on the property so no you can’t,” Moore said.
