UPDATE: Shooting victim identified, shot ‘in the head area’

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

Afternoon update

     Steven Best, identified Monday afternoon as the victim of a Friday night shooting that left him seriously injured, was “shot in the head area,” Columbus County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Tatum said.

     Best, 49, was taken by a witness to McLeod Loris hospital following the shooting at his home between 9:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, and remains hospitalized in stable condition, Tatum said.

Morning post

     Gunfire that bloodied a Tabor City area home and left a man critically hurt Friday night resulted in the arrest of a local resident.

     Jacques Ali Vereen, 26, of Clyde Norris Road, Tabor City, was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, Columbus County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michele Tatum said Monday.

     Vereen was held at the Columbus County Detention Center under a $250,000 bond, jail records show, booked into the jail just before 5 p.m. Saturday.

     Deputies were summoned to a home in the 10000 block of Swamp Fox Hwy East, Tabor City at about 10 p.m. Friday, dispatchers relaying vague information provided by a caller who said help was needed “now,” Tatum said.

     No one responded to knocks on the door when deputies arrived, Tatum said. They found an open back door and “blood evidence” both at that door and inside, Tatum said.

     A short time later the caller returned, and told deputies they had taken the victim, a 49 year-old man who was shot with a handgun, to McLeod Loris hospital for treatment of his injuries.

     No additional information was immediately available, Tatum said. Look for updates here as they become available, and in the next Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.