By Stan Welch
A Williamston man was seriously wounded in a gunfight in Pelzer Sunday. Mitchell Ray Carroll, of 209 E. Carolina Street, was shot in the head and the right side of his chest in an extended exchange of gunfire along River Street in Pelzer. He remains in serious condition at a local hospital.
The husband of a witness to the shooting told The Journal that Carroll was inside the residence at 14 River Street when the shooting began and he fled in his gray Dodge Ram truck. The witness, who was on her front porch when the shooting broke out, dove to the floor and injured her back, which she had surgery on two years ago. She was not hit by any of the bullets that sprayed the area.
She was unavailable for comment, but her husband said that they had complained about the heavy drug traffic in and out of the house before. “My wife said that there were dozens of shots fired. We had just come back from a Sunday trip to the mountains and I had just left to drive her mother back home when this happened.
“We’ve watched people pull up and buy drugs without ever getting out of their cars. It’s just lucky my wife wasn’t shot and killed,” he said. “Can you imagine two or three people driving up and down the street exchanging gunfire? It’s absolutely crazy.”
He also said that there were five people involved in the shooting and not two. The investigation is ongoing.
Carroll drove to the nearby Pelzer Rescue Squad where he crashed into the fence.
ACSO deputies J.D. Black and D.L.Brinston were dispatched to the scene. The original dispatch call was in reference to shots fired and three vehicles involved in the exchange.
According to the report they filed, Billy Joe Crane, WM, 27, 6’2″ 180 pounds, of 517 Wren Road in Easley and Jamie Michael Eaton, WM, 32, 6’2″ 180 pounds, of 100 Roy’s Road in Piedmont, were taken into custody.
Crane is being held without bond and is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, and manufacturing cocaine. He has a $25,000 bond on the cocaine charge.
Eaton is also being held without bond and is charged with attempted murder, attempted armed robbery and violation of his probation from a previous sentence. He was also wanted on two magistrate warrants.
