Woman injured in drive-by shooting

An Aiken woman was shot late Thursday outside a home on Abbeville Avenue, where earlier this year a man was killed during what has been called a "drug-related" murder.

The victim, a 17-year-old Palm Drive woman, was taken to the hospital after she was struck by a bullet fired from a passing vehicle outside a house on Abbeville, officials said. Her injuries were not life-threatening.

The home is now occupied but was not lived in during the September murder. Police are not linking anyone currently living at that residence to either shooting.

Several witnesses told police they were standing outside the home about 10 p.m. Thursday when a dark, medium-sized four-door sedan traveling east on Abbeville drove by.

That's when the shots were heard, according to reports.

The group standing outside the home took off running, one man told police. He said noticed the teenager had been shot.

She was taken to the hospital.

The motive for the shooting has not been reported; however, the evening of Sept. 8, a drug-related murder occurred outside the same home, claiming the life of a 30-year-old man, officials said.

Donald McCalla, 30, died from multiple gunshot wounds he received while he, a woman and another man were sitting in a pickup truck outside the then empty home on Abbeville Avenue.

Neighbors called police around 8 p.m. after hearing gunshots in the neighborhood.

Investigators think at least one gunman emerged from a row of shrubbery near the home and began firing into the vehicle, but police have not said what the three were doing at the home when McCalla was struck.

The female driver then sped away from the home and took McCalla to Aiken Regional Medical Centers, where he was pronounced dead.

Aiken Public Safety later arrested two men for the homicide, charging 21-year-old Freddie L. Simpkins and 21-year-old Jeremy M. Holloway with murder, two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Holloway is being held at the Aiken County detention center. He faces other charges from a previous incident in the county and was charged with kidnapping, as well.

Simpkins bonded out of jail.

His bond was set at $150,000. Bond on each charge was set at $37,500.

The woman shot Thursday and the woman who drove McCalla to the hospital in September are not the same person.

Anyone with information on the Thursday shooting is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.