'A real busy day': 3 shootings in 24 hours highlight North Charleston's gun violence (2024)

NORTH CHARLESTON — A public works employee died after being shot in a city truck while picking up recyclablesin the Whitfield subdivision. A man was pushed to the ground and then shot in the leg on Proctor Avenue. Another man was shot near a motel off Rivers Avenue.

While violent crime overall in North Charleston has declined, three shootings in less than 24 hours on July 18 highlight the area's stubborn rates of homicide and gun assaults. Advocates and police continue to slug away at the area's seemingly age-old problem.

"I'm tired of seeing killing. I'm tired of seeing families cry. I'm tired of seeing what's going on inside the community," said Ronald Smith, a North Charleston resident and founder ofPositive Vibes Ronjanae Smith Inc.

North Charleston has made strides in reducing violent crime, with a nearly 18 percent percent plummet from 2020 to 2022. Violent crime overall was down six percent between June 2023 and June 2024.

But in that same period, homicides rose nearly 40 percent. This year, the number of homicides is the same as last year between the same points in time — 10. Additionally, the number of aggravated assaults involving firearms went up by five percent in 2024, according to numbers available on theNorth Charleston Police Department website.

North Charleston's homicide rates are increasingly putting the city at odds with the rest of the nation.

In the first three months of 2024, the national homicide rate fell by 26.4 percent, and the overall violent crime rate went down by 15.2 percent, according to FBI statistics, heralding a major victory for large cities that put violent crime in the crosshairs.

Smith, who founded his gun violence prevention nonprofit three years ago after his daughter was killed when caught in gang-related crossfire, pins the issue locally on retaliatory violence where one killing fuels another.

For both of the shootings that didn't result in death on July 19, Smith said he was "boots on the ground" talking to the victims' families in an effort to prevent retaliation.

"It was a busy day, it was a real busy day," said Smith.

Three victims in one day

The day started when Public Works employee Da'twan Gatling, 26, was shot several times in a city truck while on the job in the Whitfield subdivision at 10:49 a.m.

After getting shot, Gatling drove out of the neighborhood onto Dorchester Road before crashing into a tree near Michaux Parkway, said NCPD spokesman Harve Jacobs.

Gatling was taken toTrident Medical Center, where he died.

Several hours later, at 3:25 p.m., the NCPD received a call to respond to Proctor Street, where a 44-year-old man had been shot in the leg.

Responding officers applied a tourniquet to the unnamed victim's upper left leg, according to the incident report.

The victim told officers he was walking down the street when he was pushed and then shot. A suspect was caught on a security camera firing his gun before running away.

Footage showed the victim and suspect walking together before the shooting, the incident report said.

According to another incident report, at 10:40 p.m., NCPD received a call to respond to the Stay Express Inn at 6100 Rivers Ave.

The 26-year-old victim was lying on the ground nearby, barely conscious and bleeding from a gunshot wound.

Witnesses said they saw a person dressed in black shoot the victim before fleeing the scene in a silver Chevy Malibu, the report said.

Jacobs said while he couldn't comment on the status of the victims, both were still alive around noon on July 19.

Jacobs said that as of July 19, the NCPD sees no correlation among these shootings. He said they're all active investigations.

Working so 'beef' doesn't escalate

LisaEasterling has walked over 36,000 victims through the criminal justice system since founding the NCPD's victim advocate program 30 years ago.

In her tenure as victim advocate manager, Easterling said she's seen violent crime rates rise, fall and stagnate. She's also identified several trends.

Homicides, Easterling said, are typically gang-related or the result of domestic tension. Less frequently they can be pinned to robberies gone wrong or random acts of killing.

Regardless of the cause, Easterling said tackling violent gun crimes in North Charleston will require stricter laws, a healthier police-community relationship and a shared means of conflict resolution so that "beef" doesn't escalate to homicide.

For Smith, it comes down to giving would-be gang members — like the ones who took his daughter's life — the choice over what kind of life they want to live.

"We let them see both sides. We say to them, 'You join this gang, you're going to end up in prison or all dead,' " Smith said. "You join us; we'll get you the help you need."