GAFFNEY, S.C. — Terrified residents canceled Fourth of July plans and holed up in their homes Friday as investigators hunted a serial killer believed to have shot four people to death.
Tanya Phillips had been looking forward to a backyard barbecue at her brother's house but instead planned to stay home with her doors locked.
"I'm not taking any chances," said Phillips, 32, a mother of two who works in a day-care center. "I'll go out during the day, but not at night. I just don't feel safe."
Plenty of evidence links the killings, though officials have not yet determined how the victims are connected or if they knew whoever shot them, said Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton.
"Yes, we have a serial killer," he said at a news conference in this rural community 50 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.
So far, all investigators have to go on is a sketch of a suspect and a description of a possible getaway vehicle.
The latest victims were found in their family's small furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney around closing time Thursday. Stephen Tyler, 45, was killed, and his 15-year-old daughter was shot and seriously injured. Tyler's wife, his older daughter and an employee found them in Tyler Home Center, County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.
A day earlier and about seven miles away, family members found the bodies of 83-year-old Hazel Linder and her 50-year-old daughter, Gena Linder Parker, bound and shot in Linder's home. Blanton would not say if Tyler and his daughter were also bound.
The killing spree began last Saturday about 10 miles from Tyler Home Center, where peach farmer Kline Cash, 63, was found shot in his living room. Investigators said it appears he was robbed, but they have not determined if anything was taken in the other killings.
Cherokee County, home to about 54,000 people, had just six homicides in all of 2008, and half that the year before.
Residents have "their guard up and their gun handy," said state Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, who recalled the area being terrorized once before, in the 1960s, by a serial killer dubbed the Gaffney Strangler. Otherwise, Gaffney is most famous for a giant water tank shaped like a peach that can be seen from Interstate 85.
"There is no greater fear than the fear of the unknown and nobody knows. You can cut the tension with a knife," Peeler said. "People are locking their doors, even in broad daylight."
The Fourth of July is a busy weekend, with thousands of people expected to attend fireworks displays in several communities.
"You want to live a normal life," Phillips said as she stood outside a grocery store. "But you just can't."
Every available police officer will work the weekend, Blanton said, acknowledging that there is "real fear in the county." He urged people to take precautions such as going out in groups and calling 911 if their cars break down and they are stuck on the side of the road.
"If someone breaks into my house, I'm armed and ready," said Mike Daniels, 53, a retired Army sergeant. "And I won't hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later."
Hazel Smith, 47, said neighbors feel vulnerable.
"If he killed once, he'll kill again," she said sitting on the front porch with her friends. "Tonight, I'm going to stay inside and pray, pray a little harder that he gets caught."
The latest shootings happened less than a half-mile from the sheriff's office, where at least 30 investigators were already working on the case. Blanton said a profiler has suggested Tyler and his daughter might have been shot to taunt investigators, but he said his only concern is solving the case.
"We had a 15-year-old girl shot; he killed an 83-year-old woman," Blanton said. "The good people of this community don't deserve that."
The sheriff reminded people they have a right to protect themselves and advised salesmen and others to avoid knocking on strangers' doors with so many on heightened alert.
"People are going to start shooting at shadows," Blanton said.
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Serial killer has South Carolina residents on edge
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