SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Deputies are investigating a fatal shooting at a business on Reidville Road.
The coroner said the shooting victim, 25-year-old Christopher Devon Fowler, was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.
7 News spoke with neighboring business owners and employees who said they heard the shots and saw some of what happened.
It started mid-afternoon Monday as employees and customers at West Oak Square, shopping plaza next to the Dollar Tree, were going about their day.
Surveillance video showed how the shooting had some of them running for safety. The video, given to 7 News by Kaylyn Pennington, showed the inside of her Allstate office when the initial shots were fired a few stores down.
On the video, several shots can be heard. “We weren’t really sure what they were,” said Pennington.
Pennington said only seconds later she heard a fifth shot. Pennington said employees started to get concerned and wondered what was going on so they outside to investigate.
“Somebody just got shot! Shut the door,” someone can be heard saying on the video. The workers then rush back inside, lock the door, and start to make phone calls.
“So we went to the back and all the commotion started,” said Pennington.
Deputies said a man was shot at a business there around 3:30 p.m. As he was taken to the hospital, the shooter was being questioned by investigators.
Pennington said based off of what she saw the man was shot just outside a tattoo parlor. That information lined up with what Jerry Radford also told 7 News.
Radford said the shooter and the victim had been in some sort of fight. “They were scufflin’ out front. Next thing we heard were gunshots,” said Radford. “Probably 6, 7 gunshots.”
Radford said he was in Sir Tom’s Tobacco Emporium directly next to the tattoo shop at the time. “I looked out and saw the man laying on the ground,” he said.
Pennington said she and her employees first noticed something was going on when they heard an argument going on behind the building. “They were arguin’. Kinda had like a tiff goin’ on in the shop and then out back,” she said.
Deputies have not named the person who shot Fowler.
They also haven’t mentioned any potential charges and said the investigation was in its “infancy stages, and more information will only be released at the appropriate time.”
