BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson has announced that on Thursday a Berkeley County jury convicted two men, Jason Gourdine and Steven Moses, for the shootings of three victims that occurred in the parking lot of the Nowhere Bar and Grill in Goose Creek on July 28, 2013.
Gourdine and Moses were each convicted of three counts of attempted murder and one count of criminal conspiracy. The shootings, which were captured by the bar’s surveillance video camera, occurred after the bar had closed.
Circuit Court Judge Kristi Lea Harrington sentenced Gourdine to life without the possibility of parole for the three counts of Attempted Murder based upon his prior record under the State’s three strikes statute.
Moses was sentenced to concurrent twenty year sentences on each count of attempted murder count and five years on the criminal conspiracy count.
The shooting occurred at approximately 2:10 a.m. on the morning of July 28, 2013. During the course of the three day trial, witnesses testified that Moses and Gourdine had entered the bar after the bartenders had stopped serving drinks just before closing time.
After being denied service, Moses began arguing with one of the bartenders and was told to leave the premises. Before leaving, Moses stopped to exchange words with a friend of one of the victims. That person threw a punch at Moses, but did not connect. The two men were separated by one of victims and others inside the bar, at which time Moses and Gourdine then left the bar. The video showed both men left the parking lot in Gourdine’s car, then returned approximately ten minutes later.
After driving through the parking lot, they parked on the side of the parking lot and waited on the victims to exit the bar. As the victims were talking beside one of their vehicles and preparing to leave, Moses is seen walking around their vehicle to confront them at the same time Gourdine is blocking them in by parking his car directly behind their vehicle.
Moses yelled out, “there he is, there he is,” pointed at the victim’s friend that he’d argued with earlier, and then moved to the rear of Gourdine’s car. Simultaneously, Gourdine exited his car armed with a 12 gauge shotgun and fired three shots at the victims, each at extremely close range.
One of the victims was shot in his left arm, suffering a massive wound in the area of his elbow. A female victim was struck in the back of her head with one of the shots, which resulted in pellets penetrating her skull. Her husband attempted to shut the car door on Gourdine after the first two shots were fired; however, he fell during this attempt and was shot by Gourdine in his right arm.
Moses and Gourdine then fled the scene, at which time the bar staff and patrons used towels and customers’ belts as tourniquets to try to stop the bleeding of the wounds to the two male victims’ arms. The three victims were transported to the MUSC Trauma Center for emergency medical treatment.
Each of the victims testified during the course of the three day trial and described for the jury how they have had to undergo multiple surgeries to treat the injuries caused by the shotgun blasts, but are still suffering to this day.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Solicitor Bryan A. Alfaro and Assistant Solicitor Wilton H. McNeely.
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