‘Innocent bystander’ shot in York street gun battle is sister of woman shot by serial shooter in 2008

A gun battle on a York street filled with arguing and fighting people Tuesday ended with a 54-year-old “innocent bystander” being shot in the face when she opened her back door to see what was going on.

The victim, Dequater McCollough, is the sister of Ida Neal Lord, a customer at a check-cashing business who was shot in the head and the back by a serial gunman during a crime spree almost eight years ago. Lord, shot by Phillip Watts on Valentine’s Day 2008, suffered brain damage and other injuries and remains disabled.

“All we can do is pray,” Lord said. “These guns out here are destroying people and their lives. Guns in the hands of the wrong people, my sister now, just like me, is shot right in the head.

“Guns are destroying our family.”

Aundraveious Laron McDowell, 21, the Clover man police say shot McCollough, is in jail without bond after being charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. He is a convicted felon who has been charged with attempted murder in a separate shooting, but he avoided prison in a plea bargain.

McCollough’s family and neighbors want the violence to stop.

“This is dangerous, terrible,” said Ola Thompson, another of McCollough’s sisters, who owns the home where her sister is staying. “There are people out there using guns, and people like my sister are paying for it.”

‘I’m hit!’

The shooting took place along California Street just west of the U.S. 321 Bypass. McCollough was shot while standing at the back door of her sister’s home on Ridgewood Lane – a cul-de-sac off Fine Wright Avenue – as McCollough’s fiancee was doing the dishes.

They heard gunshots, and McCollough went to the back door, which faces California Street, and she was shot in the face.

“I’m hit!” McCollough screamed before collapsing to the floor. She was rushed first to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, then to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, Thompson said.

“They had to put in a breathing tube,” Thompson said. “There was so much blood. She is fighting for her life.”

McCollough’s son lives in the house between California Street and where McCollough was shot. The family dove for cover when the shots started to ring out. Another neighbor two doors down, Jeffrey Wade, said he and his family heard the shots ring out, too.

“It was so close, and we knew it wasn’t firecrackers,” Wade said.

Earlier this year, he said, there was a drive-by shooting across Fine Wright Avenue.

“This has to stop,” Wade said.

Other shootings

The shooting is not the first on California Street that has exposed the public to danger.

In 2007, a 17-year-old was gunned down during a melee between the rival “Cali Boys” and “Valley Boys” gangs. Five years later, a midday shootout just yards from where McCollough was shot ended with York Police Chief Andy Robinson catching one of the suspects on the other side of the city.

Both Robinson and Detective Lt. Rich Caddell confirmed that McCollough was just looking to see what was happening when she was shot Tuesday.

“She had nothing to do with what was going on,” Caddell said. “She was an innocent bystander and totally uninvolved.”

McDowell also faces three weapons charges, including discharging a firearm into a dwelling, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and unlawful carrying of a pistol.

Officers caught him late Tuesday night after a tip came in that he was hiding at a nearby motel, Robinson said. York police and York County’s SWAT and drug enforcement units went to the motel, but McDowell was not there.

But officers spotted a vehicle matching the description of one McDowell was believed to be driving, pursued it and pulled McDowell over. He was arrested without incident, Robinson said.

Others involved in the fight and shooting are being sought, Caddell said.

McDowell pleaded guilty in January to two drug charges and was sentenced to 18 months of probation after an 18-month prison sentence was suspended, according to the State Law Enforcement Division. In 2014, McDowell pleaded guilty to assault and battery and served about four months in jail after being initially charged with attempted murder in connection with a 2013 shooting in Clover.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 10:42 AM with the headline "‘Innocent bystander’ shot in York street gun battle is sister of woman shot by serial shooter in 2008."