Cops: South Carolina Father Shoots Son-In-Law After Daughter's Visitation

LAKE CITY, S.C. – A family that had gathered to grieve the loss of a woman was again struck by tragedy when her drunken father stormed the home and shot her husband, authorities said Friday.

Herman McKnight, 62, was charged with murder and was being held at the county jail Friday, a day after his daughter's funeral.

Authorities said McKnight had been drinking on Wednesday before he went to his daughter's home, where family and friends consoled one another following visitation for Donna Floyd, 40, who had died earlier in the week after heart surgery.

Her husband, Stewart Floyd, told McKnight he didn't want any drinking in the house that night. Angered, McKnight told the family he was going to his truck to get a shotgun and would kill everyone in the house, according to a police report.

Stewart Floyd's mother, Jeanette Floyd, called police and tried to block the back door, but McKnight kicked it in and fired, authorities said.

After fragments hit her left finger and elbow, she moved away from the door. Once inside, McKnight fired again, shooting his son-in-law, who fell out of his wheelchair. Family members then pulled McKnight outside and eventually wrangled the gun away, authorities said.

When police arrived, McKnight was laying in the front yard, bleeding, the report said.

Stewart Floyd, 41, died at a hospital of a single gunshot in his side, Coroner M.G. "Bubba" Matthews said. Before he became disabled, he worked restoring cars, according to a funeral home handling his arrangements.

It was unclear whether McKnight had an attorney. A telephone message left at the public defender's office was not immediately returned. McKnight's bail hearing on charges of murder, assault and battery with intent to kill, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling has not been set, Tucker said.

McKnight's stepfather, Ralph Munn, blamed the shooting on alcohol.

"I just think it was the drinking," Munn said. "He'd been drinking for a good while."

Munn said McKnight, a widower, lived alone behind Munn's home.

McKnight's wife died Aug. 18, 2005. His mother died Aug. 11, 2006. His daughter died Aug. 20.

Munn did not want to say anything else about McKnight on Friday.

"We're doing the best we can. We just got her buried last night. Now I guess we got to bury him tomorrow," he said.

Visitation for Stewart Floyd was scheduled Saturday night. His funeral was to be held Sunday.

Donna Floyd's sister, Kathy Matthews, said family members are "hanging in there" but did not want to speak publicly.

McKnight has no prior arrest record, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

"It's hard to even imagine something like that happening here," Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said.