Advertisement

Midlands man and fiancée charged after sisters are shot, SC police say

A Midlands man and his fiancée are in jail after a woman was killed in a shooting that left her sister in a Columbia hospital, the Sumter Police Department said.

Mustafa Abdur Salaam, 51, and his fiancée, France Pascale Metellus, 46, were arrested at a motel on Saturday, police said in a news release.

Hours earlier, police responded to a disturbance call at Lorraine Doretha Bennett’s Chestnut Pointe apartment on Roxbury Court, according to the release.

When they arrived at about 8:15 p.m. Friday, officers found Lorraine Bennett, 58, was severely injured and her 57-year-old sister, Joyce Ann Bennett, was dead, police said.

Lorraine Bennett was taken to the hospital where she remains in critical condition, according to the release. Further information on her condition was not available.

Joyce Ann Bennett, a Manning resident, died of an apparent gunshot, Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker said. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Salaam previously was in a relationship with Lorraine Bennett, who recently moved from Sumter to Manning, police said. Joyce was there with Lorraine at her former Sumter home when Salaam and Metellus arrived, according to the release.

An argument began and shots were fired, police said.

After the shooting, police said Salaam and Metellus, of Douglas, Georgia, left in separate vehicles but were later located and arrested without incident.

Salaam was charged with murder, attempted murder, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, jail records show.

Metellus was originally charged with murder and attempted murder, but the 3rd Circuit Solicitor’s Office amended the charges to accessory after the fact of murder and accessory after the fact of attempted murder, police said.

Bond was denied for both Salaam and Metellus, and they are being held at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center.

The shooting continues to be investigated by police and the coroner’s office.