Sumter Man Shot in the Face Pleads for Answers

Sumter (WLTX) - Everywhere a Sumter single father of three goes, he wonders if he's come face to face with the person who shot him in his front yard two and a half weeks ago.

With no leads, investigators are pleading with the community to come forward with information to help them identify a suspect.

On Wednesday, June 17, the victim says his dogs started barking non-stop at 10:30 p.m. He then says something was thrown at the door of his home on Barrett Circle, so he looked out the window and saw a shadow near the tree line.

He grabbed his pistol to protect his family and went outside.

"When I fired (in the air), they fired back," said the victim who doesn't want to be identified. "They hit me in the face and the chest and I turned around and walked back into my house and locked the door."

He says he stayed awake, but was bleeding pretty bad as he called 911. He says once the ambulance got there, he'd lost a lot of blood and was pretty weak. He was taken to Tuomey Regional Medical Center.

"I got a broken jaw, broken nose and they left the pellet still in my face," said the victim.

Sumter Deputies say the man was shot with a shotgun, but that's about the only clues they have right now. The victim didn't get a good look at the shooter because there is a big flood light in his yard, and that blinded him to whomever was in the darkness.

Investigators think the shooter knows the victim, but they're not sure of a motive.

"We just want to ensure the neighborhood out there and the family that's lost some of their security, that we're doing everything humanly possible to try to make an arrest in this case," said Major Larry Florence with the Sumter County Sheriff's Department.

Both the victim and Florence say the neighborhood is usually quite and there have not been reports of major crime there recently.

The victim says he's healing physically, but he won't be emotionally until a suspect is named and caught.

"It opens your eyes and makes you realize to be cautious of what you're doing," he said. "You're not a hero. Don't run out there. Go ahead and call 911."

If you have any information that could help investigators, call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC, text "TIPSC" plus your message to CRIMES, or log onto www.midlandscrimestoppers.com.