The Newberry County Coroner’s Office, along with Newberry County Sheriff’s Office, is investigating a shooting incident that occurred on Saturday, January 18 at approximately 11:21pm near Brown Chapel Road and Brown Chapel Circle in Newberry County.

Coroner Laura Kneece has identified Mr. Michael McKinsey Mathis, 35, of Newberry as the victim in the Brown Chapel Road shooting incident. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, January 20.

This incident remains under investigation by the Newberry County Coroner’s Office and Newberry County Sheriff’s Office.

Original story: A late-night shooting incident near Newberry has cost a man his life.

At 11:23pm, Deputies were called to the Brown Chapel area of Helena for multiple shots being fired. A short time later, Newberry County 911 received a call regarding a person being in the street with a gunshot wound to the chest. Prior to the arrival of Newberry County EMS and Newberry County Rescue, 911 was notified the victim was being transported by a personal vehicle to the Newberry County Memorial Hospital. Upon arrival, the victim was dropped off at the ambulance ramp, with the personal vehicle leaving.

Newberry County Emergency Department personnel took heroic measures to save the victim’s life, getting him stabilized for transport to a trauma center. Early Sunday morning, the victim succumbed to his wound.

Investigating Deputies found the incident had taken place at 211 Brown Chapel Drive in the Helena section, just outside the City of Newberry. Deputies observed several expended rifle shell casings in the street and several bullet holes in the residence. The preliminary investigation showed the victim and another man were in the residence when the shots began.

There are no suspects at this time. The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone with information regarding this incident call 803-321-2222 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

The Newberry County Coroner’s Office will provide information on the identity of the victim once he has been positively identified and next of kin notifications are made.
Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said, “we are doing everything we can to stop these targeted acts of violence, however we cannot do this without the help of our citizens. Staying silent only empowers those that terrorize good people and their neighborhoods. Please help us put a stop to this nonsense.”

At the time of this release the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office in investigating and attempting to piece together the events that led up to the shooting into the residence.