The heir to a powerful legal dynasty whose wife and son were found shot dead in June has been rushed to hospital after being shot in the head.
Alex Murdaugh, 53, was found suffering from at least one gunshot wound on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina, Saturday.
The attorney was rushed to hospital in Savannah for treatment. No further updates on his condition have been given.
Few details are yet known about the incident and it is unclear whether the shooting was self-inflicted or if Murdaugh was the target of an attack – three months on from the unsolved double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
Authorities have not revealed if they seeking anyone else in connection to Saturday’s shooting or if they have any suspects.
Alex Murdagh, pictured second from right, was shot on Saturday. His wife Margaret, second from left, and son Paul, furthest left, were found shot dead at the family’s hunting lodge in June. Far right is the couple’s other son Buster
Alex Murdaugh, 53, (pictured) was found suffering from at least one gunshot wound on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina, Saturday
Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin told the Charlotte News Observer the widower had been on his way to Charleston hours before the shooting, but had suffered ‘car trouble’, and paused his trip.
It is not clear what happened next but Murdaugh was found shot along Salkehatchie Road.
Law enforcement officials told WSAV.com Murdaugh was at a property in the 15000 block of the rural road at the time.
South Carolina’s Law Enforcement Division (SLED) – which is also leading the investigation into Maggie and Paul’s deaths – was called out to the scene at 1:30pm EST Saturday to work with the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation.
Conflicting reports have been given around the extent of Murdaugh’s injuries.
Multiple sources close to the Murdaugh family told FITS News they understand he suffered a gunshot wound to the head and that ‘it was not self-inflicted’.
However, a separate source told the outlet Murdaugh had been shot in the leg and was expected to recover.
DailyMail.com has reached out to SLED and the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office for information.
The incident comes almost three months to the day that Murdaugh said he arrived home to find his son Paul and wife Maggie shot dead in the grounds outside the family’s hunting estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds just after 10pm on June 7. Two different guns were used in the shootings.
Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin said he had been on his way to Charleston hours before the shooting, but had suffered ‘car trouble’, and paused his trip. It is not clear what happened next but Murdaugh was found shot along the rural road Salkehatchie Road (pictured above)
The murders remain a mystery with no arrests, suspects or persons of interest named by authorities – and no one also formally ruled out of the investigation.
The case has fueled speculation nationwide as Paul has been linked to at least two other mysterious deaths in the area.
Paul was awaiting trial on charges relating to the 2019 boat crash death of a 19-year-old woman.
He has also been linked to the 2015 death of a gay teen whose body was found by the side of a road.
The Murdaughs’ housekeeper also died in a ‘trip and fall’ accident which resulted in the family settling a wrongful death lawsuit.
Police said Alex Murdaugh called 911 at 10.07pm reporting that he had found Maggie and Paul’s bodies when he returned to the family home.
The time of death was between 9pm and 9.30pm.
Murdaugh was interviewed by officers investigating his wife and son’s death on June 10, three days after the murders, and volunteered a sample of DNA to investigators.
Sources close to him have said he has a ‘cast iron alibi’ for the night of the killings.
Police released the 911 call in July after coming under increasing pressure to make records relating to the high-profile murders public.
Alex and Margaret pictured together. Few details are yet known about the incident and it is unclear whether the shooting was self-inflicted or if Murdaugh was the target of an attack
In the six-minutes of audio obtained by DailyMail.com Murdaugh is heard sobbing and gasping in distress as he tells the dispatcher ‘my wife and child have been shot badly’ and repeatedly pleads with them to ‘please hurry’.
He says neither his son Paul nor wife Maggie were breathing when he found them by the kennels of their estate and that he has not seen anyone else in the area or noticed anything out of place.
Investigators also released the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) report of the night of the killings.
It shows that police impounded a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban owned by Hampton based law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick – where both Murdaugh and his brother work.
The SLED has come under increasing pressure to solve the case and release information to the public as the killer or killers remain at large.
Speculation has mounted from the start that Paul was the target of the murder and his mom was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Alex’s son Paul, 22, (left) and wife Maggie, 52, (right) were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds on June 7 at the family hunting lodge
The bodies were said to be found near a dog kennel on the family’s property on June 7
At the time of his death, Paul was awaiting trial for the February 2019 boating death of Mallory Beach.
Beach died when the boat Paul was driving under crashed into a piling on Archers Creek after a night of drinking and an oyster roast.
Paul was on a $50,000 bond and facing three felony counts – two of boating under the influence and one of causing death and bodily injury.
According to legal documents seen by DailyMail.com Paul was ‘highly intoxicated,’ ‘drunk’, and ‘belligerent,’ that night.
Other mysterious deaths in the family’s past have also come to light, with police investigating the double murder announcing they had reopened their probe of a 2015 death of a gay teen.
Stephen Smith, 19, was found dead in July 2015 in the middle of Sandy Run Road around 15 miles from the Murdaugh family’s hunting lodge.
DailyMail.com revealed that despite investigators on the scene being convinced of foul play and finding no evidence of any vehicle involvement the death was written off as a hit and run.
Police said he was struck by a vehicle while walking on a two-lane road after his car ran out of gas.
Stephen’s mother has always believed it was a hate crime and that her son was beaten to death, rather than being struck by a vehicle, and his murder covered up.
DailyMail.com also revealed that investigators aggressively pursued tips questioning the dead boy’s ‘relationship’ with Paul’s older brother Richard ‘Buster’ Murdaugh whose name came up numerous times in case-notes we obtained.
Paul had been awaiting trial on charges relating to the 2019 boating death of Mallory Beach (pictured), who was thrown from the boat Paul was allegedly driving while drunk when he crashed it
Cops investigating the double murder have also reopened the case into a 2015 hit-and-run of teen Stephen Smith (left). In 2018, Alex Murdaugh also settled a wrongful death claim in the ‘trip and fall’ death of their 57-year-old housekeeper Gloria Satterfield (right)
No one has ever been arrested or charged over his death but investigators at the time received anonymous tips suggesting Paul and his older brother Buster as persons of interest, according to FITSNews.
A survivor of the 2019 boat crash suggested in a deposition, unveiled in court last month, that Paul may have been involved in Smith’s death.
Connor Cook said in January 2020 he had lied about the night of the boat accident out of fear of what the Murdaughs would do, claiming they had gotten away with crimes in the past.
‘Anything they get in, they get out of. I’ve always been told that,’ Cook said in the deposition.
‘One was said that Paul [Murdaugh] had pushed his housemate down the stairs, and she died, and nothing ever happened.
‘And another one, there was something that Paul was supposedly involved with a guy, got found beat up in the middle of the road, that they got out of.’
In 2018, Alex Murdaugh settled a wrongful death claim in the ‘trip and fall’ death of their 57-year-old housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.
The SLED Midlands division is handling the investigation into the deaths of Smith and the Murdaughs.
The agency took over the investigation into the double murder after the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office handed over the case due to the Murdaugh family ties to the 14th Circuit solicitor’s office.
Three generations of the family – Alex’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather – ran the office nearly consecutively from 1920 through 2005, while Alex still works as a part-time prosecutor in the office.
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