Neighbors: Shooter had upcoming court appearance, troubled past

LANCASTER — Two women were shot while one of them clung to a baby Saturday afternoon.

Channel 9 is learning more about the troubled past of the man investigators say fired a gun at them.

Police say both victims remain in the hospital and are listed in stable condition.

A woman who didn't want to be identified says her 63-year-old neighbor Dorothy Mae Caskey ran to her home on Penny Street Saturday afternoon screaming that she had been shot.

Lancaster police arrived on the scene and within minutes got a call about another shooting nearby at Palmetto Place Apartments.

There, they found Jameisha Latrice Clark, 28, also suffering from a gunshot wound. Neighbors say she is related to Caskey.

Lancaster police quickly began searching for Sammy Baskins Jr., in connection with both shootings. But when they went to his house -- Baskins took his own life.

Baskins had a lengthy rap sheet that dates several years, including charges for drug possession, assault and battery, and child sex abuse.

Eyewitness News learned Baskins was preparing to stand trial on those charges.

Neighbors told Eyewitness News Baskins was preparing to stand trial on the charges and that he shot the two women in retaliation for reporting those crimes to police.

One neighbor who didn't want to be identified told us she helped get one of the victims to safety.

"The lady's yelling my name and going 'Help help'; I called 911, and I said, 'I want an ambulance and the police right now, she dying,'" she said.

Lancaster police plan to reveal more about this case Monday.

WSOC