Murdaugh murders: Alex Murdaugh shot in head, 3 months after wife and son were killed
HAMPTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: In a bizarre turn of events, South Carolina's Murdaugh family patriarch Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head on Saturday, September 4, 2021. He was attacked on a rural road on his way to Charleston when he had stopped to change a car tire. The incident happened barely three months after his wife Margaret (Maggie) and son Paul Murdaugh were killed on June 7, 2021. The gunshot wound was not fatal for Alex and the 53-year-old legal scion is likely to survive.
The Murdaughs is known to be a powerful legal dynasty in South Carolina, who had made a lot of enemies, according to local residents. In June 2021, Alex Murdaugh's younger son Paul, 22, was awaiting trial for boating under influence and causing the accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Madison Beach. He was out on bond when he and his 52-year-old mother was found dead at the family hunting lodge 'Moselle' in Colleton County, with multiple gunshot wounds on their bodies. According to police reports, Paul was shot with a shotgun in the head and upper body, while Maggie was targeted with what seemed to be an assault rifle. Alex Murdaugh found their bodies in the lodge premises after he had reportedly returned from a hunting adventure. He was also initially considered a 'person of interest' in the investigation of the double murder.
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A successful lawyer and the successor to a powerful, wealthy legal dynasty, Richard Alexander Murdaugh Sr aka Alex Murdaugh serves as a part-time prosecutor for the 14th Circuit solicitor's office in South Carolina. According to the website of Murdaugh’s law firm, PMPED, Alex graduated from Wade Hampton High School in 1986.
“He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of South Carolina in 1990, a Juris Doctorate Degree in May 1994 from the University of South Carolina School of Law and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in November 1994. Alex represents injured persons in all areas of personal injury law, including trucking cases, products liability and wrongful death," his website reads.
On Saturday, Murdaugh was traveling to Charleston on a longer route than usual and faced car trouble during his trip. As he stopped to change a tire, he was shot by an unidentified suspect in a truck that passed him on the road. Murdaugh survived the shooting and managed to call his brother Randy to report the same. He was soon airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital where he is currently under treatment.
A family spokesperson formally stated, "The Murdaugh family has suffered through more than any one family could ever imagine. We expect Alex to recover and ask for your privacy while he recovers."
Meanwhile, an insider source revealed to New York Post, “There’s a long list of people they rubbed the wrong way, that’s for sure."
For decades, the family has dominated the legal scene in five counties of Lowcountry, South Carolina. They also operated a powerhouse litigation firm — Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, and were regarded as one of the richest families in the otherwise poorer Hampton County. If rumors are to be believed, the SLED investigators might have a long list of potential suspects for Alex Murdaugh's shooting or his wife and son's murder, ranging from spurned ex-employees and people whom they sued or prosecuted.