SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office has been investigating after a 15-year-old was shot Wednesday while riding in a car.
The Spartanburg Police Department said officers responded Wednesday at about 11:30 p.m. to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center for a gunshot victim.
After further investigation, police learned Knowledge J. Geter, 15, of Spartanburg, was shot while riding in the backseat of a black Mazda on Hillandale Road. The driver immediately took him to the hospital after he was shot.
Geter died at about 1:17 a.m., according to the coroner’s office.
A Spartanburg family is now hurting and will have to spend Christmas without their 15-year-old loved one after he was shot and killed on Hillandale Road, near Winterhaven Road, Wednesday night.
7 News spoke with the Spartanburg Police Department about the latest developments in the ongoing investigation.
“It’s a tough time. When things like this happen, we feel for our community. We feel for our citizens,” Major Art Littlejohn, with the Spartanburg Police Department, said.
Investigators with the Spartanburg Police Department continued to collect evidence at a home on Hillandale Road Thursday after a 15-year-old was shot there Wednesday night.
Police say the victim–Knowledge Geter–was struck at least once while sitting in the back of a black Mazda sedan.
“He was the passenger. He was not the driver,” Major Littlejohn said.
The driver of the car then took Geter to Spartanburg Regional where he had surgery, but, ultimately, he died from his injuries.
Geter didn’t live in the neighborhood where the shooting happened and police said it’s still unclear why he was there.
“I’m not sure if they had acquaintances there or if they had friends there,” Geter said.
7 News spoke with Geter’s grandmother. She was too emotional to be on camera, but she told us she is heartbroken and wouldn’t wish this kind of loss on her worst enemy.
She also told us that Geter had just turned 15 in September and was a ninth grader at Spartanburg High School.
Spartanburg School District 7 released the following statement about Geter’s death:
“Our hearts are heavy in District 7 this morning over the loss of our student, Knowledge Geter. This tragedy is especially difficult during the holiday season, and we hold Knowledge’s family and friends in our hearts and prayers as they mourn his passing. As a community who pulls together in times of need, we take comfort in supporting one another in the wake of such difficult moments as this.
Police are actively looking for the person who shot Geter and are thinking about his family during this time.
“It is unfortunate that it did happen during the holiday season, but for us–regardless of the holiday season–and probably for that family, they would hurt just as much because they lost that family member,” Major Littlejohn said.
The Spartanburg City Police Department and the coroner’s office will continue to investigate.
No suspects have been identified, but Spartanburg Police are now asking that, if you have any helpful information, you contact them immediately.
You can also call CrimeStoppers and remain anonymous. That number is I-888-CRIME-SC.
According to police, the home where the shooting happened was recently renovated but vacant, and it has been broken into several times.
We will update this story as information becomes available.
