(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The man accused of driving into three people in a hit-and-run outside a preschool at a South Carolina church has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and first-degree assault and battery, according to online records.
Justin Collin Adams, who was taken into custody on Thursday following an hourslong manhunt, is expected to appear in bond court on Friday morning.
Adams allegedly struck two children and one adult on Thursday afternoon at the Sunrise Presbyterian Church on Sullivan’s Island, a beach town just outside of Charleston, police said.
No one was critically hurt. One child was treated at the scene and released, while the second child and adult were taken to hospital, police said. The child at the hospital was later discharged, according to a hospital spokesperson, and Sullivan’s Island Police Chief Glenn Meadows said Thursday evening that he believed the adult was also due to be released.
Adams allegedly ditched his sedan after the crash and fled on foot, possibly armed with a knife, according to Isle of Palms police Sgt. Matt Storen.
Authorities launched a massive manhunt, which included grid searches of houses, drones scanning the sky and checkpoints at the entryway to Sullivan’s Island, police said.
A sergeant in a Charleston County aviation unit helicopter ended up spotting the suspect, who was found in a boat at a dock across the street from the church, officials said.
The crash is being investigated as possibly being intentional, Storen said. There was no altercation before the incident, according to Storen.
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