Alex Murdaugh.Photo: Facebook
Beleaguered lawyer Alex Murdaugh was bleeding and suffered “significant head trauma” after getting shot while changing a tire on the side of a desolate South Carolina road, claims his attorney, who corrected a key detail in a police incident report saying he bore no visible injuries afterward.
On Thursday, the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office released an incident report to the public from Saturday, indicating that the victim, 53-year-old Alex, had no “visible injury” after being shot in the head on Old Salkehatchie Highway in Varneville.
Hours later, the HCSO sent out a revised report, this time with the box beside “visible injury” checked off. The words “other major injury” were added next to “visible injury.”
The first report also said that Alex was not using alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident. The revised report said it was “unknown” whether Alex was using alcohol or drugs.
In an email to PEOPLE Thursday, Alex’s attorney Jim Griffin wrote,“I understand that the Sheriff has clarified this ‘no visible sign of injury’ entry to some reporters.”
Griffin says he does not know the identity of the “good Samaritan.”
“I presume that the deputy checked the no visible sign of injury on the incident report because he was not able to assess Alex since [Alex] had left the scene before the deputy arrived,” he wrote.
Griffin also said that Alex’s injuries were far more serious than was initially reported.
Confirming what he toldThe Island PacketThursday, Griffin told PEOPLE that Alex suffered “an entry and exit wound, a skull fracture, and minor brain bleeding in two places.”
He also said that the gunshot wound was not self-inflicted.
The HCSO sent PEOPLE the initial report and the updated report. Hampton County Sheriff T.C. Smalls did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The Island Packetspoke to Smalls, who said the box was likely checked in error.
The rest of the brief report, which calls the incident “attempted murder,” goes on to say that deputies were dispatched to the area in reference to a shooting.
“While en route, Deputies learned the victim, later identified as Alex Murdaugh, had been shot in the head and was being flown out from a landing zone on Charleston Highway (Varnville) to the hospital.
“Corporal (Kendrell) Henderson met with the victim before he was flown out while I, Sergeant (Samuel) White, secured the scene of the crime until HCSO and SLED investigators arrived. Further investigation required.”
A Whirlwind of Shocking Events
On Monday, after being released from the hospital, where Alex was treated for “a superficial gunshot wound to the head,” according to SLED, he announced that he was resigning from his law firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED), and would be undergoing treatment for addiction.
“I am immensely sorry to everyone I’ve hurt, including my family, friends and colleagues,” he said in the statement. “I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationships.”
He did not address the shooting in his statement.
On Monday, night,The New York TimesandThe Island Packetreported that members of PMPED had accused Alex of misusing the firm’s funds and pushed him out.
On Wednesday, his older brother, Randolph Murdaugh IV, 54, spoke out for the first time, saying in a statement, “I was shocked, just as the rest of my PMPED family, to learn of my brother, Alex’s, drug addiction and stealing of money.”
Alex was shot three months after he came home on June 7 and found his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their son, Paul, 22, shot to death on their property in Islandton in the South Carolina low country.
No arrests have been made in connection to the shootings of his wife and son — or the shooting on Saturday. Police continue to investigate.
Also on Wednesday, the Solicitor’s Office said Alex would no longer prosecute cases as a volunteer,The Island Packetreports.
Earlier this week, PMPED issued a statement about the allegations.
“This is disappointing news for all of us,” the firm said, adding that it had cut all ties with Alex. “Rest assured that our firm will deal with this in a straightforward manner. There’s no place in our firm for such behavior.”
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Griffin told PEOPLE in a previous statement that “Alex resigned from the firm after being accused of diverting lawyer fees. These allegations prompted him to confront his dependency and he voluntarily checked into an in-patient substance abuse rehab facility after being discharged from the hospital Monday.”
As authorities investigate Saturday’s shooting, they continue to search for a motive and a suspect or suspects in the killings of Maggie and Paul.
At the time of his death, Paul was facing charges in the death of Mallory Beach, 19, in a 2019 boating accident.
As a result of the crash, Beach’s family sued Alex, Buster and a store where Paul allegedly bought alcohol on the night of the crash in a wrongful death lawsuit.
source: people.com
