Just before Christmas, five bullets ripped through a two-story house in the town of Port Royal, terrifying the family inside.
It turns out the rounds that struck the house were fired from a high-powered rifle at a target affixed to some hay bales on a property located only 400 feet away, in unincorporated Beaufort County.
Port Royal officials highlighted the close call at the Shadow Moss neighborhood at a recent public meeting and say it’s a problem that must be addressed before tragedy strikes. The tricky part, said Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips, is that discharging weapons in cities and towns is already illegal, but not in rural areas of Beaufort County…