MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Myrtle Beach police are still working to solve several shootings that have happened in the city over the last week, but in three of the cases, victims or witnesses refuse to cooperate with police.
It’s becoming somewhat of a trend, and police say that makes it more difficult to lead to an arrest.
It’s a problem Interim Chief Amy Prock brought to the community on Tuesday.
“You got to let us know because we can’t do anything if we don’t know,” said Prock.
More than 300 people packed that meeting wanting answers, and Lt. Joey Crosby says the community needs to speak up.
“If you see something, say something whether you’re a victim or witness. That information is vital to hold those who commit these crimes accountable for their actions.”
Crosby says they’ve had problems with either victims or witnesses cooperating in the shooting at the Lazy G Motel, Dunes Village Resort, and the shooting on Cedar Street.
In Tuesday’s city council meeting, council members asked if there were ways to punish people who choose not to cooperate with police.
While that may not always be an option, Crosby says they will look at the different locations where the shootings happened to see if further action can be taken with business owners.
“When we have a situation like this occur, we evaluate the calls for service at that establishment to determine if it does warrant a nuisance action. We will then determine if that investigation is warranted and we will utilize it to curb that violence from occurring at that location.”
News13 looked up the calls for service for the Lazy G Motel, and just since January, the business has had 8 calls for service including calls for assault, robbery, and murder.
We tried to talk to the owner of the motel multiple times on Wednesday, but got no response.
