COLUMBIA, S.C. — An off-duty police officer in South Carolina was charged with murder Wednesday after state investigators said he shot a man trying to drive away after the two fought in a fast food restaurant parking lot.
O’Neal never had a weapon or threatened to use a weapon during the fight, which involved kicks and punches in the parking lot of a Chick-fil-A in Summerville on March 20, state agents said. “I just ask you for mercy so I can help my wife with the girls while we go through this,” DeLustro said in his bond hearing streamed by
Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson thanked the family for acting with dignity and grace as state agents thoroughly investigated the shooting.State agents didn’t detail why O’Neal and DeLustro started fighting, but said DeLustro initiated the altercation, yelling at O’Neal “do you want to do this?” and using an anti-gay slur.