24-year-old man shot dead near North Augusta Middle School

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A 24-year-old man was shot dead Tuesday near North Augusta Middle School – the neighborhood’s second shooting of the day.

Authorities said Carnell Nealous III was found dead in the open doorway of a home at 1242 Weston St., just outside the North Augusta city limits.

He’ll be autopsied in Newberry, according to Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables.

Deputies confirmed the shooting just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and added that a white or gray hatchback was seen leaving the scene.

Around midday, it was a very active crime scene, busy with deputies and onlookers who stood behind the yellow crime tape that blocked off the street.

Several neighbors say they heard the gunshots.

Right now, deputies are focusing on getting closure for a grieving family.

“Our job is to investigate the facts. Right now, we have someone who is deceased and obviously the community and a family is affected,” said Capt. Eric Abdullah with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office. “We encourage anyone in this community or anyone outside the community who has information to come forward with this.”

There was another shooting earlier in the day just around the corner.

That shooting injured a 52-year-old woman around 4:40 a.m. in the 600 block of Hutchinson Drive, according to Abdullah. Further details of that shooting weren’t immediately available, including whether the shootings were connected.

Hutchinson connects to Weston Street.

Deputies said it was too early to say whether the shooting was gang-related, but of the gang unit could be seen at the home Tuesday.

The shootings are part of an outbreak of violence that’s claimed 100 lives in a little over a year across the CSRA.

The outbreak has affected communities large and small on both sides of the Savannah River, although as the largest community, Augusta has been hit hard.

Many of the victims and suspects have been young men, and authorities have blamed much of the problem on gangs.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.