Father, son from Sumter killed in Myrtle Beach armed robbery

A father and son with Sumter ties were shot and killed at a Horry County bingo parlor they owned in an attempted armed robbery on Friday night.

A couple family friends of Steve and Glenda Johnson - who wished to remain anonymous - spoke Saturday to The Sumter Item on the shooting of Steve and his son, Stephen "Sparky" Johnson, about 9:45 p.m. Friday at Waccamaw Bingo off U.S. 501 in the Myrtle Beach area.

The two men were killed during the robbery attempt at the parlor, according to multiple media outlets in the Myrtle Beach area.

On Saturday, the Horry County Coroner's Office confirmed their deaths by gunshot wounds. The elder Johnson was 73 and his son was 46, according to Deputy Coroner Michelle McSpadden.

Sparky Johnson was a resident of Pinewood and has three children, who graduated in recent years from Laurence Manning Academy in Manning, according to one family friend.

His father, Steve, owned Styles by Steve hair salon at 95 Market St. in Sumter and also A Ring Around the Roses flower shop, which is next door, according to another family friend.

The Johnson family also owned the Horry County bingo parlor, according to sources, and may have had two homes - one in Sumter and another at the beach.

Reportedly about 80 people were inside Waccamaw Bingo when the shooting started, according to The Sun News of Myrtle Beach. Two people inside, who spoke to the newspaper later, said the suspect came in through a side door wearing what appeared to be a white T-shirt tied like a bandanna covering his face. He demanded money and then fired several shots from a handgun.

According to the two eyewitnesses, a man tried to tackle the suspect while he was inside the parlor, but he escaped. The incident happened very quickly, they said.

Glenda Johnson described her husband and son to The Sun News as two of the best men people could have known, and her husband would give the shirt off his back to anyone.

"55 years we've been married," Glenda Johnson said of her husband, Steve, "and someone took that away."

As of late Saturday, police were continuing to search for the suspect. He was described as a black man wearing gray clothing.

Back in Sumter, another family friend, Alexa Rowe, spoke Saturday and said she previously worked for Steve Johnson at Styles by Steve. Rowe said she was an apprentice under Johnson, and he trained her to get her barber's license.

"It's a wonderful family, and he was a wonderful man," Rowe said. "This is very tragic."