LITTLE RIVER, SC (WBTW) – A Grand Strand mother speaks out after, police say, a man shot at and chased her teenage son and his friend.
“It was a phone call I will never forget ever,” said Shauna Riley.
Riley says she was at work when her 16 year old son called her saying he was being chased and shot at.
“It was the sound of terror,” she said. “They had no idea what to do.”
Riley told them to keep driving, while she called 911. She says they nearly crashed pulling into her work parking lot.
“Very emotional, their eyes were filled with tears. They were shaken up. I mean they were just physically and mentally drained,” described Riley.
According to the police report, the two teen boys told police they were invited over to some girl’s house to “chill out.” They said they saw the parents coming and the girls made them leave through a window.
They said they ran to their vehicle parked in the cul-de-sac when Suggs and another person tried to stop them by blocking their vehicle in, the report said.
Suggs pulled a pistol and fired shots at the teens, the report said. He then later chased the teens in down several roads firing more shots and ran numerous stoplights, according to the police report.
The teens were able to safely get away.
Suggs told police he saw two males running from behind houses going towards a vehicle. He said he then approached the vehicle and asked what they were doing there and the driver almost ran over him, the report said.
Suggs said he fired two shots at the vehicle and then followed them to get the tag number before calling 911.
“I don’t care if he was shooting a sling shot, it should have never happened, those are children,” stated Riley.
She compared her son’s story to Trayvon Martin.
“In a neighborhood chased down by a vigilante and shot at. I’m just thankful it did not end tragically,” she said. “I could’ve been burying my son this week.”
A Horry County dispatch supervisor told police that they did receive a phone call from the suspect and from what she was told; they patched him over to North Myrtle Beach due to their location at the time of the call.
She stated that North Myrtle Beach passed the call back to them back and Suggs would not co-operate. She said he kept hanging up on her until he finally told her “the hell with it, I will take care of it myself” and hung up.
Police found four .45 caliber shell casings at the incident location.
Suggs is charged with assault and battery first degree and pointing a firearm. He was released on a $3,500 bond.
Riley told News 13 she’s not entirely sure the charges fit the crime.
Horry County Police Lt. Raul Denis said over the phone that the evidence doesn’t show Suggs had malice or forethought when shooting his gun, which is required under South Carolina Law to prove attempted murder.
