A man has been arrested in connection with an alleged shooting that took place outside an LGBTQ+ nightclub in South Carolina. The incident is the first where the suspect faces charges based on the city’s hate intimidation law.

According to reports, on April 1, police responded to a call about a possible shooting at Pulse Ultra Club, an LGBTQ+ nightclub located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Officers stated that several shots were fired from a vehicle that stopped on a nearby road. No victims or injuries were reported.

Police later found a vehicle that matched CCTV footage of the shooting, and arrested its driver, 37-year-old Timothy James Truett. Officers reportedly also found a firearm and shell casings in the car.

Since then, Truett has been charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, and malicious injury to real property valued over $5,000. Additionally, the suspect has been charged with hate intimidation, making it the first time Myrtle Beach’s hate intimidation law has been used since it was introduced in 2004.

Speaking to WACH Fox 57, the owner of the LGBTQ+ nightclub, Ken Phillips, said he was inside the venue when he heard the gunfire. “I was in my office doing paperwork, and I heard bang, bang, bang, bang, about five or six shots. So I go to my side door from my office and look outside and didn’t see anything.

“When I open my car door, my passenger window fell in. So then I went to the other side of my car and noticed that there were bullet holes in my car. So I called the cops and, they rushed right on out.”

“My primary concern has and always will be the safety of my community and my customers,” Phillips said. “It’s given me great concern … as to how far people will go.”

Vice chair of Myrtle Beach’s Human Rights Coalition, Adam Hayes, welcomed the use of the hate intimidation law in the case. Hayes explained that the policy is intended to deter “crimes that are motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of the actual or perceived” identity, in the absence of a statewide hate crime law.

“It’s nice to see that something we put into policy is not just a piece of paper, that it’s actually being used,” said Hayes.

At present, Truett is being held at J Reuben Long Detention Center on a bond of $312,174.