South Carolina Man Charged for Shooting at Cars, Killing Child

On Saturday, May 28th, 40-year-old Charles Montgomery Allen took unprompted shots on cars passing his house in Florence County, reports People Magazine. The occupants of two cars escaped injury, but in the backseat of the third, 8-year-old Quarius Naqua Dunham was shot in the neck, and his father sustained a bullet wound in the leg while driving. The Dunhams had been traveling from their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a high school graduation, WPDE-TV News states. In critical condition, third-grader Quarius was rushed into surgery, but was taken off life support on Sunday, according to People Magazine. His father is expected to recover.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office took Allen into custody “following a brief standoff at his residence on Old River Road,” reports People Magazine, and on Tuesday, Allen was arraigned for charges of attempted murder, murder, weapon possession, and firing into an occupied vehicle. Original reports stated he fired on three cars, but deputies have since claimed there were “multiple,” accounting for nine charges of attempted murder. Held at the Florence County Detention Center with bond denied, Allen will be appointed a public defender for his court appearances in July and September, according to WPDE-TV News.

Allen’s motive was suspected to derive from his history of methamphetamine use, stated Sheriff T.J. Joye to WBTW News. When confronted with his charges by Magistrate Belinda Timmons, Allen claimed victimhood, asserting that for two years “Every device [he had] has been hacked,” that “something has been after [him],” and that noises have been “coming into [his] home…saying things.”

An autopsy will be performed on Dunham tomorrow at the Medical University of South Carolina, states WBTW News.