Shooting at SC bar leads to eight arrests, including six security members, cops say

A week after four people were injured in a shooting and melee at a South Carolina bar, multiple arrests were made, including members of the security team, the Sumter Police Department said Tuesday.

Two patrons and six members of the company hired to provide security at the Backyard Bar & Grill were charged with various crimes, police said in a news release. The venue is on Rast Street, in an area of Sumter between U.S. 378 and U.S. 76.

The shooting happened March 10, according to the release.

At about 6 p.m., officers were heading to the bar in response to a call about a fight when they learned about the gunfire, police said.

At the scene, and through the course of an investigation, officers discovered that a “disagreement or fight” — involving individuals attending a brunch and music performance — began inside the club and spilled outside into the parking lot where shots were fired, according to the release. Officers recovered multiple shell casings from both handguns and long guns outside of the bar, according to police.

Victims

Three victims — a 29-year-old Columbia woman, a 26-year-old Bethune woman, and a 21-year-old Sumter man — were shot before being taken by private vehicles to Prisma Health Tuomey, police said.

Another victim, a 31-year-old Columbia woman, fell and was run over by a car leaving the parking lot, according to the release. She was later transferred to a hospital in Columbia.

All four victims were treated for their injuries and have since been released, police said. Further information on their conditions was not available.

Charges

As of Tuesday, 22-year-old Gable resident Myzariah Lucas and 27-year-old Sumter resident Aaliyah I. Blanding are the patrons who have been arrested, according to the release.

Lucas was charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, possession of a gun on premises where alcohol is sold and aggravated breach of peace, police said. Blanding was charged with aggravated breach of peace and possession of a weapon on premises where alcohol is sold, according to the release.

The owner and co-owner of Cerberus Security & Protection also were arrested, along with four men who were acting as security guards, police said.

The owner, 35-year-old Hopkins resident Kevin Bethea, and co-owner, 51-year-old Sumter resident James Lewis Love, both were charged with obstruction of justice, according to the release.

Sumter residents Steven Bethea, 32, and Zachary Sebastian Geddings, 20, were acting as a security guards and are not licensed through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and both were charged with possession of a weapon on premises where alcohol is sold, police said.

Another Sumter resident, 22-year-old Keion Shakel Dicks, also was acting as a security guard and isn’t licensed through SLED, and was charged with possession of a weapon on premises where alcohol is sold as well as possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, according to the release.

Julius Armonte Rasheem Ellerbe, a 24-year-old Sumter resident, also was acting as a security guard and isn’t licensed through SLED, and was charged with possession of a weapon on premises where alcohol is sold, police said. Ellerbe’s security license was revoked in 2023 after an unrelated incident in Florence County where he’s facing felony charges, according to the release.

All eight were booked at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, police said.

More charges to come?

Investigators said Lucas and at least two other people fired shots outside of the club, and police are working to identify others connected to the fight and shooting.

More arrests are expected, police said.

Anyone with information is asked call police at 803-436-2700, CrimeStoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or submit an online tip.

Additionally, police said the Rast Street venue has been the source of multiple calls for police response over the past few years. Because of the number of calls and types of activity reported, police said they filed a petition in November 2023 with the S.C. Department of Revenue to have the bar’s alcohol license revoked.

Further hearings about a possible revocation are pending, according to the release.