Fourteen-year-old Jacob Russ, a Sumter High School student, was fatally shot on February 12, 2023, at the McDonald’s on North Lafayette Drive in Sumter, South Carolina. He had gone with family to pick up a relative who worked there and was an innocent bystander when a workplace dispute between employees escalated into gunfire. Jacob was struck and died at the scene.

Authorities say the altercation involved 25-year-old employee Marcques Charles Wright Jr. and another employee who was Jacob’s relative. A family member tried to intervene, and Wright allegedly produced a firearm and began shooting. Wright fled but was later arrested by the Sumter Police Department and booked at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center; he faces murder, two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and unlawful carrying of a pistol. An autopsy was scheduled at the Medical University of South Carolina and counseling was offered at Sumter High School for those affected.

If anyone was at that McDonald’s that afternoon or has information about the events leading up to the shooting, please come forward.