UPDATE:
Woman praised for foiling robbery
Would-be carjacker is shot in parking lot of Wal-Mart; police link him to string of robberies
Police are indebted to a woman who shot an armed carjacker in a Wal-Mart parking lot Saturday — a suspect in nine other armed robberies, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Tuesday.
Harold Levar Jeffcoat, 29, was arrested Sunday at Providence Hospital Northeast after seeking treatment for a gunshot wound in his buttocks.
Police said a man was shot as he attempted to rob a couple getting into their car outside the Two Notch Road Wal-Mart about 9 p.m. Saturday.
The male victim, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, told police the attacker pushed a gray pistol into his stomach and demanded the keys to the car.
The unidentified woman reached into the car and pulled a pistol from the glove box, according to a sheriff’s report. She fired five shots at the attacker, who dropped his pistol as he ran away. He fled in a burgundy Buick.
“We’re kind of hailing (the man and woman) as heroes,” Lott said.
He said police don’t encourage people to go out and “just start shooting,” but they do encourage people to protect themselves.
Jeffcoat, who is accused in 10 armed robberies in Richland County and Columbia in less than a month, has an arrest record dating back 12 years.
Jeffcoat, of Palmetto Drive in Columbia, is charged with:
• Nine counts of armed robbery
• One count grand larceny motor vehicle
• One count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, according to information from the Columbia Police and Richland County Sheriff’s departments
Lott said more charges are pending.
Jeffcoat is accused of robbing several businesses and individuals between Dec. 19 and Jan. 13, and was the Midlands Most Wanted in The State newspaper Monday.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/16475917.htm
Good Shot!!!