Did Alex Murdaugh slash his tires? Recovered knife traced back to the lawyer himself
HAMPTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: The Murdaugh family’s case continues to twist more and more every day. Less than three months after his wife Margaret (Maggie) and son Paul Murdaugh were killed on June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh was shot in the head on Saturday, September 4, 2021. It was a superficial wound and he is expected to recover soon. Now, it is being reported that the knife used to puncture his car’s tire -- the reason why he stopped and ended up getting shot -- has been recovered. And it’s been linked to none other than the Murdaugh family patriarch himself.
Earlier, FITS News reported that the Mercedes-Benz GLS sport utility vehicle driven by the prominent South Carolina attorney the day he sustained the gunshot wound while purportedly changing a tire was equipped with run-flat tires. These tires, also known as “extended mobility tires”, allow a vehicle to travel approximately 50 miles with little to no tire pressure due to the presence of a reinforced sidewall.
READ MORE
Alex Murdaugh called 911 himself after he was shot in the head, cops confirm
Who was Stephen Smith? Murdaugh double murder linked to 2015 death of gay man
As per his attorney Jim Griffin, Murdaugh stopped on the side of the road after experiencing “car trouble” while traveling to Charleston, South Carolina. “Alex was changing a tire when a car passed him,” Griffin said. “The vehicle turned around and someone in the car shot him.”
However, as FITS News reported, most Mercedes SUVs equipped with run-flat tires do not include spare tires. The report speculated that this would mean “there would have been no reason for Murdaugh to pull over to the side of the road to try and change a flat tire.” One source told FITS News, “There’s no way he was changing the tire or had any intent to.” Sources also said, “This is not going to hold up,” referring reportedly to the narrative advanced by Murdaugh and his attorney. The sources also said the tires were one of the very first things to alert investigators to potential holes in Murdaugh’s story.
The day after Alex Murdaugh, who has been named a person of interest in the recent murders of his wife and son, was shot, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) said he called 911 to report that he’d been shot on Old Salkehatchie Road near Varnville, South Carolina, at 1.34 pm on Saturday. The shooting occurred about seven miles from Moselle, the family hunting lodge where the bodies of his 52-year-old wife and their 22-year-old son were found.
As per a new report by FITS News, sources said the knife in question has been linked to Alex Murdaugh. The report said, however, it is not immediately clear where it was recovered, or for that matter how it was determined to have been tied to Murdaugh. No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting, nor has SLED released a description of any suspect(s) or suspect vehicle(s) related to the incident.
As per a report in The Post and Courier, Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin said again that shots were fired at Murdaugh while he was inspecting a flat tire on his late wife’s Mercedes Benz. The tire appeared to have been slashed, Griffin said.
Griffin said a truck passed Murdaugh on the road and circled back as he was assessing the vehicle. Someone in the vehicle, the lawyer said, asked if he was having car trouble and Murdaugh explained that he had a flat tire. Then Murdaugh heard a gunshot and realized he had been shot in the head, Griffin said.
Griffin also said he suspected the incident was a setup and that the gunman slashed Murdaugh’s tire and then followed the lawyer until he pulled over. “He’s very lucky to be alive,” Griffin said.