In three 911 calls made Sept. 4 and released Friday, once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh and a passerby reported that Murdaugh had “blood all over him” as he waved for help after his alleged shooting in Hampton County, South Carolina. He told a dispatcher he was shot by an unknown man while stopped with a flat tire.
The calls released by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division show the account Murdaugh provided immediately after he was shot on rural Salkehatchie Road, a day after he resigned from his family law firm over accusations that he had stolen millions of dollars.
SLED later charged Murdaugh with insurance fraud after he told police he tried to arrange his own death for a $10 million life insurance payout for his surviving son, Buster. The agency also charged a Walterboro, South Carolina, man and former client of Murdaugh’s, Curtis Edward Smith, with being the alleged hit man.
In interviews, Smith denied knowing anything about the insurance scheme and said he’s being made out as “the fall guy.”
The new 911 calls include one made by Murdaugh reporting that he was shot, another by a woman who happened to drive by, and a third call by Murdaugh when he is on his way to the hospital.
Murdaugh told a dispatcher he was shot by a “white fella” while on the side of the road.
“I got a flat tire and I stopped, and somebody stopped to help me, and when I turned my back they tried to shoot me,” he said on the 911 call.
Asked where he was shot, Murdaugh said he wasn’t sure but “somewhere on my head.”
Murdaugh didn’t wait around for an ambulance; he told the dispatcher other drivers stopped to help and take him to the hospital.
In another call released, a woman described what she saw: “There is a man on the side of the road with blood all over him, he’s waving his hand.”
“He looks fine,” the woman told the dispatcher. “But it kind of looks like a setup, so we stopped.”
A man with the woman described Murdaugh and the scene. He said Murdaugh’s SUV was pulled over on the side of the road.
“There’s no damage to the SUV. He’s got his caution lights on,” the man said. “The trunk of it was open.”
In the third call, Murdaugh called 911 back after losing connection with the previous operator. He told the operator that a “young lady” was driving him to the hospital in a white Nissan Rogue.
Throughout the disorganized call, both Murdaugh and the operator struggled to get each other’s attention. After repeatedly asking Murdaugh his location, the operator scheduled an ambulance to pick Murdaugh up along Walterboro Highway.
Murdaugh later noticed the ambulance along the road and told the operator he was going to pull over.
“I see them. They’re here,” Murdaugh said at the end of the call. “I’m going to hang up now.”
The call ends there.
In medical records released to the State, Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers, a nurse and paramedic arrived in a helicopter to pick up Murdaugh from Hampton County and fly him to Savannah.
Questions have arisen about the extent of Murdaugh’s injuries, given his false first story of what occurred and the appearance of no injuries when he appeared in court on Sept. 16.
The medical records show that doctors, nurses, and first responders said repeatedly Murdaugh had a bloody head injury to the rear part of his head. He was placed in the intensive care unit at the trauma center.
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