Two people were shot Tuesday afternoon at Lakeside Park in Piedmont, South Carolina, after a fight broke out at the park just off Piedmont Highway. Deputies say they found both victims with at least one gunshot wound each, and investigators believe the shooting stemmed from a fight between at least two people at the park.
The shooting happened around 2 p.m. Tuesday, according to WSPA 7News, which reported deputies were called out after the altercation escalated into gunfire. The Greenville County Sheriff's Office confirmed deputies responded to Lakeside Park for a reported shooting on Piedmont Highway, per the outlet's report.
The sheriff's office said the gunshot wounds are non-life-threatening, though the station's report did not specify further detail on the victims' conditions. Investigators are still working to identify the shooter, and the report did not state whether an arrest had been announced.
A Park Built for Families, Not Gunfire
Lakeside Park sits at 1500 Piedmont Highway and is run by Greenville County Parks, Recreation & Tourism, home to athletic fields, walking trails, picnic shelters, playgrounds, and the 7th Inning Splash Waterpark. Youth sports leagues and families gather there on any given afternoon, which makes a daytime shooting there especially jarring for the surrounding community.
The county provides park and shelter rules, and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office responded to Tuesday's shooting. Tuesday's shooting isn't the first act of serious gun violence at this particular park — in September 2020, 31-year-old Keith Lamar Watkins Jr. was shot and killed at night in the back of Lakeside Park following a dispute, according to The Journal Online. That case wasn't solved quickly either — deputies coordinated across jurisdictions and arrested a 32-year-old suspect during a traffic stop in Greenwood County three months later.
What Charges Could Look Like
If deputies eventually identify a shooter and prosecutors pursue charges, South Carolina law offers a couple of possible paths depending on what investigators find. Under South Carolina Code § 16-3-29, attempted murder is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, with no option for a suspended sentence or probation. If the injuries are determined to fall short of that threshold, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature under South Carolina Code § 16-3-600 carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and requires proof of great bodily injury or an act likely to produce death.
It also remains unclear whether the firearm involved was legally possessed. South Carolina has a Constitutional Carry law.
Part of a Busier Summer for Greenville County Shootings
Tuesday's shooting adds to a string of gun violence cases Greenville County deputies have investigated in recent weeks. Just a day earlier, Hoodline reported on a woman shot at a bar along the same Piedmont Highway corridor, and deputies were also investigating a shooting near White Horse Road earlier this month. Late last month, a woman was shot at a Greenville Waffle House.
That local pattern stands in contrast to broader statewide trends. Broader statewide trends provide context for the local cases. The nearby city of Greenville also reported a drop in violent crime in 2025 compared to the year before, per WSPA 7News. Even so, localized altercations escalating into gunfire remain an active concern for the Greenville County Sheriff's Office.
Anyone with information about Tuesday's shooting is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Greenville at 864-23-CRIME. Investigators have not released a suspect description or said whether surveillance cameras at the park captured the fight or the gunfire that followed.
