‘I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret’

Alex Murdaugh, 53-year-old heir to a legal dynasty, announced through his attorney on Monday that he is leaving his South Carolina based law firm and entering rehab

Murdaugh on Saturday called 911, then his brother after being shot in the head as he was changing a tire on his Mercedes SUV on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina

The gunman shot him after the truck initially drove past Murdaugh without incident and then made a U-turn, it is alleged

He suffered ‘superficial wounds’ but is expected to survive

He rang 911 then his brother Randy 45 minutes later

After being treated at a local hospital, he was airlifted to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia, where he continues to receive treatment

In June, his wife Margaret, 52, and his son Paul, 22, were found shot dead at the family’s hunting lodge in South Carolina

Three days after the murders of his wife and son, Alex Murdaugh’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III died

At the time Paul was awaiting trial for the 2019 boating death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, in a boating accident where he was suspected of driving drunk before he crashed the vessel and she flipped over, causing her death

Three months on, their murders remain unsolved with no arrests made

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

Police who have been investigating the double murder have also reopened the case into a 2015 hit-and-run of teen Stephen Smith

In another case from 2018, Alex Murdaugh settled a wrongful death claim in the ‘trip and fall’ death of their 57-year-old housekeeper Gloria Satterfield

The heir to a South Carolina legal dynasty who was shot on Saturday on a rural road three months after his wife and son were murdered has announced that he is leaving his law firm and entering rehab.
Alex Murdaugh, the 53-year-old principal partner at one of the state’s most illustrious law firms released a statement through his attorney, Dick Harpootlian.
‘The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life,’ the statement read.
‘I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret. I’m resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been exacerbated these murders.
‘I am immensely sorry to everyone I’ve hurt including my family, friends and colleagues.
‘I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationships.’
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WCSC-TV reports that Murdaugh was shot by a gunman in a truck that drove past him as he changed a tire and then made a U-turn.
Authorities have released few details about the incident which comes three months after the still-unsolved double murder of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and son Paul. 
The prominent attorney called 911 at around 1:30pm EST Saturday, after he was shot by a passing truck in Hampton County, South Carolina, his lawyer Jim Griffin said on Sunday.

Alex Murdaugh, the heir to a powerful South Carolina legal dynasty, whose wife and son were found dead from gunshot wounds in June, managed to call both his brother and 911 despite reportedly being shot in the head by an assailant in a passing truck, causing a ‘superficial head wound,’ authorities said.  
Around 45 minutes after making that call, Murdaugh then phoned his brother Randy, and has called his sibling again since being airlifted to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia, for further treatment.
Randy is said to have told Griffin that the truck initially passed by Alex Murdaugh without incident as he changed the tire of his black Mercedes-Benz SUV on Salkehatchie Road. 
But the driver of the truck then turned around and drove toward Murdaugh. Moments later, the gunman inside the truck opened fire, it has been alleged. 
As of Monday, no arrests have been made. 
Murdaugh suffered superficial wounds in Saturday’s shooting, with Griffin saying that the contact with his relative – who can’t see him in person because of COVID protocols – bodes well for his recovery, according to the Post and Courier. 
Griffin spoke after the the Murdaugh family released a statement Saturday evening, saying they have ‘suffered through more than any one family can ever imagine.’ 

The statement added: ‘We expect Alex to recover and ask for your privacy while he recovers.’
Murdaugh’s attorney Jim Griffin told the Island Packet the widower had been on his way to Charleston hours before the shooting, but had ‘car trouble’, and stopped. 

HAPPENING NOW: SLED is investigating after they said #AlexMurdaugh was shot here in Hampton County. Still an active scene. pic.twitter.com/RVEe4R7G5m

— Jordan Cioppa | Live 5 News (@JordanCioppaTV) September 4, 2021

No suspects have been named and authorities have not released any information other than the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) confirming it is investigating the shooting of Alex Murdaugh.  
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. 
Law enforcement was still on the scene late Saturday. SLED spokesman Tommy Crosby confirmed that the individual shot was Alex Murdaugh but said ‘no other details are available’ at this time.
It is unclear if Murdaugh was targeted in the alleged attack or if it was random.

However, the incident comes almost three months to the day that Murdaugh said he arrived home to find his son Paul, 22, and wife Maggie, 52, shot dead in the grounds outside the family’s hunting estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
Three days after Paul and Maggie were found dead, Alex’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III, died. He was the third generation to serve as 14th Circuit Solicitor, having held the position from 1985 to 2005. 

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 heartbreaking 911 call in July after coming under increasing pressure to make records relating to the high-profile murders public.
In the six-minutes of audio 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 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.   Alex Murdaugh’s 911 call reporting wife and son shot is released.

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. 
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.
The deposition states that 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. 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.   
Incidentally the investigators initially had 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.  
However, 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.