A man was arrested in South Carolina following a fatal shooting at a bar in Buckeye Lake that left Benjamin Hawk, a 42-year-old man, dead, as reported by WBNS. Licking County Sheriff's Office deputies found Hawk with a gunshot wound after being called to Louie's Corner House on Hebron Road late Friday night. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The suspect, identified as 59-year-old Richard Lindgren, was the focus of a multi-state search ending in his arrest after a nationwide murder warrant was issued, and after detectives from the Licking County Sheriff's Office had alerted agencies across South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to be on the lookout for Lindgren and his vehicle, which Flock cameras had captured in South Carolina, as Sheriff Randy Thorp detailed in a statement, a manhunt culminated with assistance from a South Carolina State trooper and deputies from the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office, who managed to spot and stop Lindgren.
According to details from an ABC6 report, the shooting at Louie's Corner House occurred shortly before midnight, and the suspect, Lindgren, had previously been described as armed and dangerous, last seen driving a cream-colored 2011 Buick Lucerne with Ohio license plate HRT6785.
Court documents provide a harrowing timeline. Lindgren allegedly entered the bar around 9:30 p.m., approached Hawk from behind while he and Lindgren's ex-wife were singing karaoke, and shot him, according to NBC4i. After the shooting, Louie's Corner House expressed condolences and gratitude toward those who assisted during the tragic event, saying, "He will be deeply missed, but his memory will live on in the hearts of those who knew him," in a social media statement, patrons and the community recoiled from the sudden violence that tore through the fabric of their gathering place.
The detectives from Licking County are expected to travel to Orangeburg as part of the investigation process, and efforts are currently underway to extradite Lindgren back to Licking County, Ohio. The Licking County Sheriff’s Office has encouraged anyone with information about the shooting to reach out at 740-670-5500, in a quest for justice and perhaps a sense of closure for those left in the wake of such a senseless tragedy.
