UPDATED: 1 injured, 1 in custody after disagreement leads to gunfire in Sumter

A man was taken into custody Thursday evening after a disagreement at a Sumter County home led to shots being fired.

Sumter County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of shots fired at an address on Amelia Drive on May 14. Upon their arrival, deputies made contact with the victim who sustained a gunshot wound to the bottom of their right foot, with minimal bleeding.

Deputies learned that a verbal altercation between neighbors had occurred about a puppy being hit in the roadway, according to an incident report obtained by The Item. 

It was during that altercation that Robert Stachura, of Sumter, became “irate” before retrieving a firearm from a garage and brandishing it, the report stated. 

Stachura then fired at the neighbor's vehicle while it was occupied by two people. They exited the vehicle, attempting to flee from the gunfire. Deputies were told Stachura fired his weapon “at least 10 times.” 

While hiding behind the vehicle, one of the occupants fired their firearm into the air, the incident report said.

The vehicle was struck by gunfire in the driver’s door and window as well as the back driver-side passenger door, sunroof and in the windshield three times.

Stachura told deputies the other parties fired at him first and he returned fire in self-defense, according to the report. When asked where his firearm was located, he replied that “law enforcement was not going to retrieve his weapon” and they “had no right to be on his property.” He then became aggressive by attempting to push deputies off the property. 

Stachura was taken into custody and charged with two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, according to Mark Bordeaux, public information officer for the sheriff’s office. 

The wounded victim was taken to Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital. Their condition has not been released, Bordeaux said. 

He was booked at Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, where his bond was denied.