FORT MILL, S.C. — Two people are dead following a murder-suicide on Main Street Monday afternoon, the Fort Mill Police Department said. The York County Coroner's Office said a woman died from a gunshot wound, and her son-in-law died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
After the York County Coroner's Office released their findings, the Fort Mill Police Department confirmed the incident was a murder-suicide.
The woman has been identified as 68-year-old Deborah Elaine Buchanan of Charlotte, and the man has been identified as 39-year-old James Alexander Vinton of Rock Hill.
Police said around 1:15 p.m. Monday, officers responded to the H&R Block on Main Street, where they found two people who had died.
The Fort Mill Police Department is a tenth of a mile away from the H&R Block.
Major Bryan Zachary with FMPD said crimes like this are rare in the area.
“It’s an extremely unusual occurrence for our jurisdiction, period,” Zachary said. “We generally don’t have a high incidence of violent crime in our jurisdiction, and it is a very unusual set of circumstances. Very tragic.”
Lexi Sinclair works at a fast-food restaurant across the street. She said she didn’t see or hear the shooting but took notice as soon as the police started responding.
“It was something bad,” Sinclair said. “Like, I had a feeling it was something bad because, like, it was so many police cars and then looking down the road you could hear and see the ambulance coming up the street.”
The Coroner’s Office and Fort Mill Police Department will continue to investigate the shooting, and results from autopsy and toxicology tests are still pending.