UPDATED: Student accused of helping SCSU shooter; report details campus activity before incident

Daniel Eugene Hutto II, of 1051 Denton Drive, Columbia, is charged with accessory before the fact to attempted murder. He was taken into custody Tuesday.

The S.C. Law Enforcement Division claims Hutto admitted to being involved in an argument on campus.

After the argument ended, Hutto allegedly opened his book bag, exposing a firearm to the not-yet-named gunman.

Hutto allegedly allowed that person to remove the gun from the book bag. The gunman then fired into a crowd, injuring at least one person, a SLED affidavit states.

The agency says surveillance video backs up its claims.

According to a redacted S.C. State University Police report, obtained through an open records request, a campus police officer was called in, from home, to assist with a large block party behind Dukes Gym around 12:34 a.m. on March 3.

The officer estimated “500 to 1,000” people were in the parking lot when he arrived.

The officer reported, “Several subjects were drinking an alcoholic beverage from open containers” and there was “an extremely strong aroma of what appeared to be burnt marijuana.”

The officer also claimed there were people “dancing on vehicles, driving with their doors open and speeding through congested areas with over several hundred students walking in the roadways.”

The officer called for assistance from the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, Orangeburg Department of Public Safety and SLED to help with crowd control.

While the officer waited, a police sergeant told him that a gunshot victim was in the courtyard of the Hugine Suites dormitory.

Officers responded immediately to the injured 19-year-old man and found him sitting on a lamp post in front of Building E at Hugine Suites.

A student applied pressure to the injured man’s right thigh.

The officer took off his belt to form a tourniquet in an attempt to slow the bleeding from the man’s gunshot wound.

Another officer held the belt in place while an officer called for Orangeburg County Emergency Services to allow EMS to safely come to the scene, the report states.

The injured man told officers that he was sitting on a bench in front of Building E when he heard multiple gunshots ring out, the report states.

He then realized he’d been shot and found a residential security officer, asking him to call for help.

Most of the rest of the report was redacted.

In the days after the shooting, S.C. State University implemented the following rules:

• A “no non-student” visitation policy after 9 p.m.

• An increase in announced and unannounced health and safety checks throughout campus housing.

• Employment of six armed guards, certified by SLED, to staff campus gates and high-risk locations to assist campus police during night patrols.

• A 24-hour monitoring center to display activity on campus security cameras.

• Additional lighting and fencing behind Hugine Suites and across campus

• Continued enforcement of the 10 p.m. noise curfew and vehicle decal checks at entrances.

• Continued enforcement of the university’s policy regarding unauthorized parties and visitors

On Tuesday, Orangeburg County Magistrate James Rickenbacker set Hutto’s bond at $12,500 cash or surety. Hutto has since posted bond.

Hutto was a business management major at the university, according to S.C. State spokesperson Sam Watson.

Watson said Hutto enrolled in fall 2021 semester and last attended in the spring 2023 semester.

The university doesn’t comment on student disciplinary actions, Watson said.

Hutto faces up to 30 years in prison if he’s convicted.