Shooting victim says video brought back horrific memories – Myhorrynews

John Cox said watching the video of the Fathers Day shooting on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach brought flashbacks of a shooting that occurred a year ago almost to the daya shooting that nearly cost him his life.

Cox, 34, of Oxford, North Carolina was shot multiple times while attending the 2016 Carolina Country Music Festival.

Since then, hes warned family, friends and folks in and near his hometown about the dangers lurking along the Grand Strand.

He says hes glad the video of last months shooting garnered so much attention and hopes it will change things in Myrtle Beach and make it a safe destination again.

So why is he just now telling the world about his near-death experience a year ago?

People need to know whats been going on, he said. When I was lying in the intensive care unit at Grand Strand hospital, detectives told me not to tell anyone what had happened.

Cox, whos still feeling the effects of the attack that took place in the parking lot at the former Myrtle Square Mall site last year, recounted what went down the night of June 11, 2016.

My wife and I along with another couple were attending the country music festival, Cox said. My buddy and I went back to the parking lot to tailgate awhile while the ladies stayed at the concert.

The two friends were sitting in his buddys Chevrolet Tahoe when out of nowhere a black male wearing dark clothes and a mask came up to the drivers side and put a gun to his friends head and demanded money, Cox said.

Cox said they tried to explain they didnt have any money on them and the gunman seemed to get upset and fidgety.

I have a concealed weapons permit, he said I grabbed my sidearm and slipped out of the truck. But before I could chamber a bullet, he shot me twice in the chest and in the arm.

He was also shot in the abdomen and side and still has a bullet lodged inside him today.

Cox said he didnt see but one robber but figured there were two suspects since doctors told him they found two different types of bullets.

I was lying there, not knowing if he was going to come and finish me off, Cox said. The bullet in my arm hit an artery and the blood spurting out sounded like a sprinkler.

The would-be robber or robbers fled the scene and a nearby ex-Marine rushed over to help stop the bleeding until police and an ambulance arrived.

That guy saved my life and I have to say the police got there pretty quickly, he said.

In the ride to the hospital, Cox groggily realized hed also been hit in the side. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the intensive care unit where he stayed for 11 days.

His friend had been shot, also, but his wounds werent as serious and he was released from the hospital a short time later.

During his stint in the ICU, Cox said investigators told him not to discuss the incident with the press or on social media.

They said the shooters might be part of a gang and might come hunt me down, Cox said. I told them I wished they would.

Later, Cox said the detectives told him the robbers were inlanders, people who lived away from the beach but came to town to rob people then go back home.

They told me theres a less than 10 percent chance of ever catching who shot me, he said.

Myrtle Beach police spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby said the investigation is ongoing but the suspects havent been found yet.

Cox was out of work for eight months and because the damage to his right arm was so severe, he couldnt lift heavy equipment and had to give up his business of carpet cleaning.

Even today, the simple act of writing is a labored task.

This year, the city brought in extra law enforcement officers from outside agencies to help local police during the weekend of the Carolina Country Music Festival.

Following the Fathers Day incident and other shootings, the city has initiated stronger security for the Ocean Boulevard area with extra outside law enforcement officers and barricades lining much of the boulevard to keep pedestrians out of the street.

Ive been telling people that I know, for a year now, not to go to Myrtle Beach because it was too dangerous, he said. I told my story on a local radio station, too.

But he hadnt put his story on widespread social media or wanted to tell everyone about it until he saw the Facebook video of the shooting that happened on the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Fourth Avenue North in the early morning hours of Fathers Day last month.

I knew then, they couldnt keep things like this quiet any longer, he said. I truly hope they clean the city up and make it a safe and fun place to visit again.

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Shooting victim says video brought back horrific memories - Myhorrynews