Deputies: Chester Co. clerk of court employee shot, killed at home

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Jimmie Paul, 59, was found dead on her kitchen floor just before 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Chester County sheriff's deputies told Channel 9 her 17-year-old grandson was still at the house, and was later charged with murder.

It happened at their home on Williamsville Church Road, east of Chester.

Paul had been shot several times in what deputies described as a planned attack involving her grandson, Eli Watts and 18-year-old Marquaes Buchanan, who is also charged.

Friends of the family told Channel 9 that Jimmie and Mack Paul had raised Watts in their home since he was a young child.

"She was a very happy person. Always happy," said Carlisle Roddey, the Chester County supervisor.

Jimmie Paul worked for the county in the Clerk of Court's Office. Her husband is the planning and zoning director for the county.

"Mack locked up the office for me last night," Roddey said. "They're both very good people. I'm in shock."

Roddey said at the time of the shooting, Mack Paul was behind the house working on his boat that he planned to take fishing this week. He didn't hear the gunfire.

"I think he's in shock. It hasn't hit him yet, I think," Roddey said.

Sheriff's deputies won't discuss a motive for the shooting, except to say that it looks like a coordinated attack.

Williamsville Church is on a very rural road surrounded by rolling hills and cow pastures. The family home sits up on a hill, and the view looks serene and quiet.

Deputies are not commenting yet on which person shot Paul, the gun used or any problems the couple might have been having with their grandson.

They did tell channel nine that more arrests are expected soon.

Roddey said it was emotional to see the family Wednesday morning.

"I know how he (Mack) felt about his wife, and I know how I would feel. The hardest thing I had to do was go in there and see him," he said.

Flags across Chester County were at half staff Wednesday in honor of Jimmie Paul.