Officials: Death of 4-year-old found in car is 'suspicious'
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Officials say the Richland County Sheriff's Department is investigating the suspicious death of a 4-year-old found in a car in northwest Columbia.
The State of Columbia reports department spokesman Kevin Lawrence says deputies responding to a call Sunday evening found the child in a car at the Richland Parish Apartments.
Lawrence says EMS attempted to perform CPR, but the 4-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say the car, which belonged to a neighbor, had doors that could not be locked. Lawrence says investigators do not know how the child got into the car and are calling the death suspicious.
Police say the sheriff's department is continuing to investigate.
Richardson gives $100,000 to families of Charleston shooting
Jerry Richardson, the owner of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, has donated $100,000 to the families of the Charleston shooting to help cover burial costs of the victims.
Richardson sent a letter to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund dated Friday along with a check for $100,000.
Richardson asks in the letter that $10,000 go to each of the nine families of the victims and $10,000 for a memorial at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church honoring the memory of those killed in the shooting on Wednesday.
Bakari Sellers, a Democratic member of the S.C. House, tweeted a photo of Richardson's letter on Saturday morning. Richardson mentions the victims by name in the letter and writes "our hearts are with those who grieve the loss of these individuals."
Panthers spokesman Steve Drummond confirmed Richardson's donation.
'Star Wars' actor charged in S. Carolina high-speed chase
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — A former child actor who starred in one of the "Star Wars" movie sequels faces charges after leading South Carolina deputies on a high-speed chase.
Colleton County Sheriff's deputies on Wednesday arrested a 26-year-old man they confirmed through a former talent agent was Jake Lloyd, who played a young Anakin Skywalker in the 1999 movie "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," Sgt. Kyle Strickland said Sunday.
The man gave his name as Jake Broadbent, Strickland said. The man's birthdate matched the actors' listed by movie database IMDB.com and a hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, where Lloyd was born.
The man was charged with failing to stop for officers and reckless driving after hitting speeds over 100 miles an hour, Strickland said.
Deputies in coastal Charleston County initially tried to stop the fleeing vehicle early Wednesday afternoon, but quit chasing after the man drove into neighboring Colleton County, Sheriff's Office Major Eric Watson said Sunday.
The chase lasted for more than 25 miles before Lloyd drove off Interstate 95, plowed through a fence, and continued speeding along a parallel frontage road, authorities said. The road ended at a dead end, but the vehicle kept going into a wooded area before it hit several small trees and stopped.
The man had not posted bond and remained in jail Sunday evening, Strickland said.
Lloyd said in a 2012 interview that the role he performed when he was 10 years old made his youth hellish because he was bullied by other children. His last acting credit was in 2005, according to IMDB.com.