Neighbor describes Saturday’s shooting incident at Hilton Head Gardens apartments

Tasha Williams was walking upstairs at Hilton Head Gardens apartments Saturday with a friend and three kids when she heard the shots ring out.

“We all ducked,” Williams said.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spoke to a woman who said an unknown African American man kicked in her door and started shooting at about 3:30 p.m. at the apartment complex.

They also said a young child was injured during the shooting.

Williams said “I heard a woman scream ‘my child! My child!’”

On instinct, Williams said, she and a friend ran to the next door apartment and found the child bleeding.

“We picked him up, put him in the car, and drove him to the hospital,” Williams said.

The child was airlifted to Savannah Memorial Hospital, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office release. It also said the child was in stable condition.

Williams said the apartment complex is full of children who usually fill breezeways playing.

This is not the first violent incident reported at the complex this week. A woman reported her ex-boyfriend stabbed her roommate with a kitchen knife on Thursday, according to Sheriff's Office reports.

That victim was treated at the scene and refused transportation for further evaluation, the report states.

Williams and other neighbors said most of the people living in the complex are families. They said most the crime comes from people living outside the complex.

The neighbors have thought of options to make the complex safer. One option was to add a gate that would require a code to get in.

There is no physical description of the assailant as of yet, according to the Sheriff’s Office, and the suspect is still at large.

The scene is secure and there is no threat to the public at this time, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.