In the early morning hours of a Thursday in March 2015, a heated argument between a father and son in Elgin, South Carolina, escalated to a fatal conclusion. Stephen Earl Wood Jr., a 26-year-old male, was shot and killed by his father, Stephen Earl Wood Sr., who was 68 at the time. The tragic event unfolded at the mobile home they shared with the younger man's wife and two small children, who witnessed the horrific incident.
The dispute had reportedly been ongoing throughout the day.
The elder Wood, concerned and angered by his son's recent run-ins with the law, had ordered him to leave the house. Both men had a history with law enforcement. Stephen Jr. had recently led deputies on a chase and had a prior arrest for assaulting his father. Stephen Sr. also had a history of assault-related arrests, though he had reportedly been out of trouble for a decade.
The argument took a violent turn when Stephen Jr. allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife. In response, his father retrieved a. 22 caliber revolver and shot his son in the arm. The younger Wood then ran out of the home, only to return minutes later, reportedly telling his father that he would have to kill him. It was at this point that Stephen Sr. fired a second shot, this one striking his son in the chest and proving to be fatal.
Following the shooting, it was Stephen Sr. himself who called 911 around 12:30 a.m. to report that he had shot his son. When Kershaw County sheriff's deputies arrived at the residence, they found Stephen Wood Jr. deceased. Investigators recovered a knife and the revolver from the scene. Initially, the elder Wood was not arrested, but after consultation with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's office, he was charged with murder later that afternoon. He was subsequently taken into custody and held at the Kershaw County Detention Center.
