By Patrick Phillips | September 29, 2020 at 9:19 AM EDT - Updated September 29 at 9:19 AM
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office was searching for men in an attempted carjacking Monday night in which at least one shot was fired as the victim tried to escape.
An incident report states deputies responded to an Ashley Phosphate Road gas station Monday at approximately 9:44 p.m. to meet with the victim. The victim told police the incident happened at a church in the 2700 block of South Oakridge in the Ashley Heights area.
The man told deputies he was driving his vehicle when he stopped at the search to look for directions. While looking down at his phone, he cracked his window for fresh air and a short time later saw the barrel of a handgun pointed at him through the cracked window, the report states.
The report states the victim saw three men wearing khaki pants, blue shirts and face masks between 17 and 19 years of age. One of them held the handgun and yelled for him to get out of the vehicle, he said.
The victim said another man pulled open the driver’s door and tried to pull the victim out of the vehicle. The man told deputies he was struck in the back of the head by the handgun. He said he felt dizzy and was bleeding profusely but managed to get back into the driver’s seat and accelerate quickly.
As he drove away, he heard one gunshot, the report states.
The victim told deputies that during the struggle, one of the men stole the key to his vehicle, a push-to-start model.
The man eventually said he recognized the man holding the handgun as a former high school classmate.
Deputies followed up with the man the victim identified, whose name does not appear in the report, but that person denied knowing the victim and did not know why the victim would accuse him of attempting to rob him.
Deputies deployed a K-9 officer but were unable to locate anyone fitting the description. Deputies were also unable to find shell casings at the scene.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office at 843-202-1700.
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