Authorities: 3 Killed in Crash After Highway Shooting, 2-State Chase

May 16, 2023

SHELBY, N.C. (AP) – Three people have died in a truck after someone in it fired at a different vehicle in South Carolina and then the truck crashed into a North Carolina house while trying to get away from law enforcement, authorities said.

The chase started around 1 a.m. Sunday in Blacksburg, South Carolina, and ended with the pickup, which had turned off its headlights, slamming into a house in Shelby, North Carolina, causing significant damage, investigators in both states said.

Three people in the truck between the ages of 15 and 20 died, while three others in the vehicle survived the crash, Shelby police told news outlets.

No one in the vehicle that was shot at was injured, Cleveland County, North Carolina, Sheriff Alan Norman said in a statement.

“Given the relentlessness with which these suspects pursued and shot at the victims, it is a miracle,” Norman said.

The people in the truck fired on the other vehicle several times starting in Cherokee County, South Carolina, and continuing for about 10 miles (16 kilometers) toward Shelby before a Cleveland County deputy started the chase, authorities said.

The deputy lost sight of the truck before discovering a few moments later it had crashed into the house, the sheriff said.

The names of the people killed or whether anyone else in the truck has been charged has not been released.