A South Carolina man is accused of kidnapping and trying to kill two 15-year-old girls, including one who found a way to escape and sought help, deputies said.
Darrius Gilmore of Richland County is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of possession of a firearm during a violent crime, and discharging a firearm into a vehicle, according to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
“This was a senseless act of violence, but this arrest shows that accountability always follows,” Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers said in a Tuesday, March 31, news release.
Court records viewed by Us Weekly on Thursday, April 2, did not immediately list an attorney for Gilmore.
Calhoun County Chief Deputy Matt Trentham told news outlets, including WACH, that before the kidnapping, the two teens went to an apartment in the early morning of Saturday, March 28, when Gilmore was there.
Gilmore, 21, allegedly suspected the teens of stealing something and abducted them in his car, while holding them at gunpoint, Trentham said, according to the TV station.
He bound both girls using tape and headed to Calhoun County, according to Trentham, the TV station reported.
Gilmore took them to a “secluded wooded area” in the county, the sheriff’s office said.
While there, Gilmore stepped outside his vehicle and began beating one of the teens with a gun, according to Trentham, WIS-TV reported.
That is when the other teen escaped from being bound, got in the driver’s seat of Gilmore’s car and took the vehicle, Trentham told the TV station. As she drove off, Gilmore allegedly fired gunshots, striking the car.
The girl managed to drive to a gas station, where she shared that she was abducted, according to Trentham.
This led to Calhoun County deputies responding and saving the other teen, Trentham said. Gilmore was also arrested.
The teen who made it to the gas station had “chewed through” the tape Gilmore allegedly used to bind her with, according to Trentham, who called the girl “extremely brave,” WACH reported.
Gilmore is accused of having plans to kill both girls in the wooded area of Calhoun County.
“These are two 15-year-old girls that left home and obviously came very, very close to a tragic end,” Trentham said, according to WACH.
He added that the teenagers were “extremely lucky.”
Gilmore is being held on a $500,000 bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
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