Police searching for suspect after Sumter Co. shooting

HORATIO, SC (WIS) - The search is on in Sumter County for whoever shot and killed a man in the Horatio community.

The tragedy has one family friend doing more to keep his family safe.

"I was shocked. I mean, I really was shocked," says Charles Miller.

Miller is having a hard time believing a young man he watched grow up is dead.

"I talked to his grandparents and they said someone shot him," says Miller.

That's all Miller knows about what happened to 25-year-old Joseph Brooks.
    
Sumter County deputies say Brooks was alone in his Horatio home at about 2:00am Thursday when someone kicked in the back door and shot him in the head.

"The door was ajar. The home itself did not appear to be in a wreckage or anything," says Major Hampton Gardner.

Deputies say this was a home invasion and murder.
 
"We're not sure exactly what transpired or why someone would have entered the home. We don't know what the motive is," says Gardner.

Regardless of the motive, this family friend is afraid.

"It could be anybody. It could be my family or anybody here. People are crazy nowadays," says Miller.

Investigators are talking to neighbors to find out if they saw or heard anything.
    
In the meantime, they're focused on bringing a killer to justice.

"There is someone on the loose. There was a perpetrator that entered this residence and someone we should consider armed and dangerous," says Miller.

Miller lives just a mile and a half from where Joseph Brooks was killed and he wants deputies to find the killer, so he can rest a little easier.

"I'm just hoping nothing like this ever happens again here," says Miller.

And now this father plans to get a home alarm, to protect his family.

Reported by Brandi Cummings

Posted by Logan Smith