Man, 29, shot after holdup at nightclub

Ulyses Oliver believes he might have been killed if an assault on him occurred just a few moments later.

When Oliver stepped outside the Grown Folks club off Kershaw Camden Highway early Friday morning to go home, three men approached him and demanded money. Two had guns and the other man had his hands under his shirt pretending to have a firearm, he said.

Oliver said one of the men told him that they had "wanted to get (him)" for a while.

He gave them $50, his watch and necklace. Then he walked away, but not long after he turned his back, he heard gun shots being fired his way.

The first two or three bullets hit the ground. The next three hit Oliver– twice in the left foot and once in the left thigh.

"All I know is I kept hearing those bullets pop off," the Fort Lawn resident said. "I didn't look back."

The shooting happened just before 3 a.m. Friday outside the club.

Oliver, who was alone, was able to hop down a hill and catch the attention of an officer directing traffic. He was then taken to Springs Memorial Hospital.

Oliver doesn't know where the gunmen went.

Oliver, 29, said the situation could have been worse.

He was walking to his Dodge Avenger when he was robbed. One of the gunmen asked for his car keys, but he said he refused to hand them over.

Oliver said he believes if the men would have waited to approach him as he got inside his car, they may have forced him to drive to a secluded area.

"I feel like if they would have gotten me in my car, they would have killed me," he said.

He said he was hit in the thigh with a bullet from either a .40-caliber or 9 mm gun. The shots to his foot were from the other weapon, which Oliver believes was the smallest of the two.

He said he didn't expect to be shot after he gave the men his money and jewelry.

"They didn't have any business shooting me after they got what they wanted," said Oliver, who was released from the hospital Saturday. He will be homebound for several weeks while he nurses his injuries.

Oliver said the assailants were all black men. He remembers the two men with the guns more than he does the third man. One gunman was in his 20s and the other was probably in his 30s, Oliver said.

One was wearing black and gray and another had on an orange and white coat with a hood.

Lancaster County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tom Holland said no arrests have been made, but authorities have identified a person of interest.

Contact Jesef Williams at 283-1152 or jwilliams@thelancasternews.com