Judge tosses out charges against 6 in South Carolina mall shooting

GREENWOOD (AP) - A judge in South Carolina threw out charges against six men in a shooting at the Greenwood Mall, saying prosecutors never proved any of them had a gun, fired the weapon or intended to shoot the possible victim.

Prosecutors were trying all six defendants at the same time in the mall shooting in July 2018. No one reported being injured, but dozens of panicked shoppers ran out or hid.

Circuit Court Judge Brooks Goldsmith halted the trial Thursday but said he would have changed his mind if the man authorities said was the target of the shooting had cooperated with authorities, The Greenwood Index-Journal reported.

Isaiah Brown refused to talk to investigators. Prosecutors issued a subpoena for him to testify Nov. 18, but authorities haven't been able to find him, even with an arrest warrant issued for not following the court order, Solicitor David Stumbo said.

"I wouldn't be in a position to make this ruling if Brown had shown up and implicated anyone," Goldsmith said.

Defense attorneys pointed out there was also no surveillance video of the shootings, and police said it happened in the one place in the mall that cameras didn't cover. The manager of the nearby Foot Locker said she heard Brown say the men were trying to attack him, but since she wasn't part of that conversation, prosecutors said she wasn't allowed to testify.

"In terms of the deck being stacked against us, that loaded the deck," Greenwood Police Chief Gerald Brooks said. "We had a witness that, essentially, we couldn't use. A woman that heard something the victim said that we'd love the jury to be able to hear, but because of the rules of law she wasn't able to testify to what she heard."

Prosecutors can't retry Shyheim Alston, Shyheim Freeman, Shyheim Reed, Narkevious Reid, Isaiah Whatley and Antonio Williams Jr. All were charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime and high and aggravated breach of peace.

The defendants celebrated with their attorneys, posing for pictures and hugging family members after the judge's ruling.

"The next time I'm in court, it'll be as an attorney," said 19-year-old Isaiah Whatley, according to the Greenwood newspaper.

Stumbo said he disagreed with the judge's ruling, saying prosecutors presented evidence of shell casings on the floor of the mall and bullet holes in the walls to show a shooting took place, and other video from the mall showed the men following Brown just before they headed into the spot where the cameras didn't cover and the obvious panic from the shooting started.

"I've tried lots of cases in my career; this is the first one that hasn't gone to a jury," Stumbo said.