The father and son arrested by police investigating an alleged attempted murder at a long-troubled nightclub in April had hidden illegal weapons and ammunition in a bedroom wall, according to court records. The son was already fighting murder and weapons charges in the unprovoked killing of a homeless man.
The June 10 search-warrant raid yielded three handguns and 174 rounds of ammunition, according to court records. The weapons had extended clips to hold more ammunition. Two of the handguns were so-called ghost guns, which have no registration marks, and one had been altered to fire like an automatic weapon. Police also recovered a camouflage face mask.
Elijah Spencer, 23, and his father, Tony Elizee, 41, of Mount Pleasant, were charged with carrying a firearm and unauthorized possession of ammunition. Neither man had a license to own guns.
Elizee denied ownership of the weapons and said they belonged to his son, according to charging documents. He allegedly gave police three different, inconsistent statements and declined to provide a DNA sample.
Spencer did not provide police with a statement but did shout, “I don’t know who them guns for, it ain’t mine,” according to court records.
Separately, Spencer has pleaded not guilty to the April 2023 murder of 67-year-old Milton “Bobo” Gordon. Police allege Spencer and another man lured Gordon with the promise of money before gunning him down without provocation.
When police executed the search warrant June 10, they were investigating Spencer as a suspect in an April assault and attempted murder at the Front Line Bar & Grill, according to court records.
The Estate Colquhoun outdoor nightclub has been the site of several shootings over recent years and a sword attack.
In July 2022, officers arrived at the Front Line shortly before 1 a.m. to find 43-year-old Randy A. Lockhart on the ground in the parking lot. He had multiple visible gunshot wounds and no vital signs, police said.
In 2017, miscommunications led to an off-duty officer shooting a man with a gun and then being shot in return by an on-duty officer at Front Line, according to police.
Calquhoun residents wanted Frontline closed after a deadly April 2014 ambush at the nightclub. Five men were arrested for the murder of a 32-year-old man and wounding of a police officer, according to police.
In 2011, a man was shot to death after an argument, and another man injured at the nightclub. In 2009, gunmen hid in bushes outside the nightclub and started shooting, wounding at least three people. In 2004, a man was shot to death after buying food from a vendor outside the nightclub, according to police.
In December 2000, a woman at Front Line turned down a man’s request to dance. Enraged, the 25-year-old spurned dancer went to his car and fetched a 33-inch sword, police said. Two off-duty police officers reportedly confronted the man and shot him in the chest when he swung the blade at them, according to police.
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