Aiken County investigators have arrested two men in connection with a shooting that occurred Feb. 19 at the ENMARK gas station on Edgefield Highway.
Trayvon Tawian Copeland, 22, and Chadd Lamar Hooper, 23, were taken into custody Tuesday morning without incident, according to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
The arrests follow a shooting incident that left multiple individuals critically injured. Deputies responded to a 911 call at approximately 11:21 p.m. on Feb. 19, where they found a man with gunshot wounds to his arms and chest near the gas pumps at 1218 Edgefield Highway. Investigators later identified a black car involved in the shooting, which crashed at the intersection of Edgefield Highway and Croft Mill Road. Witnesses reported seeing the car speed away from the scene after the shooting.
At the crash site, deputies discovered an injured driver who had been shot in the leg, and another man who fled the scene but was later found nearby with a gunshot wound to his chest. The S.C. Highway Patrol is investigating the crash, which left one person injured when the fleeing car collided with another vehicle. Aiken County EMS transported four men to an area hospital with critical injuries.
Copeland and Hooper now face multiple charges, including attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Sheriff Michael Hunt described the shooting as part of an ongoing wave of gang-related violence in the area. “This is one of four shooting incidents we’ve responded to over the past three days,” Sheriff Hunt said in a previous statement. “These acts of violence are not random and are believed to be the result of gang retaliation.”
Copeland and Hooper are currently being held in the Aiken County Detention Center.
