Second teen arrested in Upstate auto dealership break-in
OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Deputies in Oconee County made a second arrest following a monthslong investigation into an Upstate auto dealership break-in.
The Oconee County Sheriff's Office said 19-year-old Elijah Niheim Lee-Blair, of Walhalla, was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center just before 7 p.m. Monday after investigators linked him to a December 2024 break-in at an auto dealership.
According to reports, deputies responded to a dealership on Clemson Boulevard on December 30, 2024 just after 9 a.m. in reference to vehicle break-ins. Deputies on scene gathered evidence that included smashed windows and 'efforts to try to program the vehicles in order to start them,' reports said.
Deputies said evidence confirmed a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was taken from the dealership.
7NEWS previously reported 18-year-old Trenton Parker, of Asheville, was arrested in relation to the investigation in March. Both Lee-Blair and Parker are charged with one count of malicious injury to property and grand larceny.
Arrest warrants said Lee-Blair and Porter damaged the windows of six vehicles before they stole the Camaro worth $64,987.00. Both were arrested in Cleveland County while driving the stolen Camaro.
Lee-Blair remains at the Oconee County jail under a $100,000 bond. Should he be released, he will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Porter was released on March 12 and faces the additional charges of second degree burglary, petit larceny and malicious injury to property in relation to a separate investigation at the same dealership on January 31 of this year.
Porter was required to wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his bond.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
A 'Rooftop Korean' reveals what it was really like during the '92 riots
LOS ANGELES — It's been more than three decades since Yongsik Lee grabbed a shotgun and climbed to the top of his furniture store during the 1992 Los Angeles riots — becoming one of the infamous era's 'Rooftop Koreans.' After protesters once again squared off with cops on LA's streets — this time over federal raids targeting migrants — the armed vigilantes who defended the city's Koreatown are back in vogue. The 'rooftop Koreans' became a viral punchline and meme for anyone who worried LA was descending into violence, and thought Mayor Karen Bass wasn't doing enough to crack down. 8 Armed Korean immigrants guard their street during the LA riots in 1992. Wikipedia Advertisement Donald Trump Jr. posted an image to X of an armed man on a roof during the latest rioting in LA along with the caption: 'Everybody rioting until the roof starts speaking Korean.' Lee says the memes sling-shotting around the internet don't do justice for how scary the times were — and how different the recent round of LA protests and riots are from 1992. A Korean organization in LA blasted Donald Trump Jr. for a post allegedly making light of the 'Roof Koreans' during the city's latest riots. 'All of the Korean people, we were just focused on protecting our property. And we were also trying to protect the pride and spirit of our Korean community,' said Lee, who immigrated in 1981 and served in both the Korean and American armed forces. 'We didn't want to [fight.] We wanted peace,' he said. Advertisement Now-historic photos at the time captured Korean men with rifles perched atop buildings as rioters moved through the city in May 1992. The mobs looted businesses and set storefronts ablaze after four white police officers were acquitted of the savage beating of Rodney King, a black man. Sixty-three people died, and property damage neared $1 billion in the chaos. Amid the riots, the police more or less abandoned Koreatown, instead focusing on wealthy, white neighborhoods, Lee said. Advertisement 'The police were not responsive. They were using Koreatown as a bumper,' Lee said. 'I was watching the TV, and I saw things burning down in the south side, and [rioters] were coming up here.' 8 'Roof Korean' vigilantes watch over a market in Koreatown in Los Angeles during the 1990s chaos. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 8 Korean-American men with rifles on the roof of a grocery store during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. AP Lee said that's when he decided to take matters into his own hands: He picked up his two kids from school, went by Home Depot to buy as many fire extinguishers as he could fit in his car, grabbed a shotgun he had for hunting and joined two neighbors on his roof. Advertisement From there, Lee could see other shop owners with guns on nearly every building on his block. All of them had done mandatory military service back in Korea. 8 Present-day protesters jump on a car amidst smoke and flames in LA on June 8, 2025. Toby Canham for NY Post 8 Riot police in full gear face a crowd of recent protesters. Toby Canham for NY Post None of them wanted violence, he insisted. 'We didn't want anybody to get hurt. It was peaceful. We were protecting our property, but we wanted to do it as peacefully as possible,' Lee recalled. 'It wasn't a matter of protecting my money or my property. It was about my foundation. If I lost those things, I'd lose everything. My whole life in America.' 8 The anti-ICE protests in LA have resulted in looting and property damage, but not at the scale of the 1992 riots. Toby Canham for NY Post Advertisement By the end of the riots, more than 1,800 Korean-owned businesses were still looted or destroyed, according to the Washington Post. The media would later cast the 'Roof Koreans' as allies of law enforcement. Kyung Hee Lee, who immigrated in the '80s and saw her tire shop ransacked during the riots, said that narrative is insulting. 'We did what we did because we had no choice,' she said, speaking in Korean. Advertisement 8 A looter steals from a gas station in Compton earlier this month. Getty Images 'We were desperate to survive because the police were not helping the Korean community. The police abandoned the Korean community so the protesters would have something to destroy,' she said. Many Korean-Americans are supportive of the anti-ICE protests that overtook LA — though they disagree with the rioters. When Don Jr. posted about the rooftop Koreans, the Korean American Freedom Federation swiftly condemned him, saying the meme 'demonstrated poor judgment by mocking the current situation and invoking painful memories,' in a statement to the Korea Times. Advertisement 8 Riot police in riot gear make their way toward protesters on June 9, 2025. AFP via Getty Images Wonil Kim, who was toiling as a construction worker during the 1992 riots, said, 'What's being posted online brings up really painful memories.' 'We are proud of the people who were protecting our community, but those days were really brutal and cruel,' he said. And things are different now: Koreatown still doesn't get enough cops, residents say. But in 1992, the Korean community was a poor, fledgling minority; it has since grown and thrived. 'Nowadays nobody will go to the rooftops because we have insurance,' Kim said jokingly. Advertisement 'Roof Korean' Tony Moon has criticized the protests on social media. But at least one 'Rooftop Korean' has embraced his legend. Tony Moon was 19 when he says he grabbed a gun and joined his dad on the roof in 1992. He has since become a right-wing, Second Amendment advocate, dubbing himself an 'OG Roof Korean' on social media. After the latest protests broke out, he re-posted a meme showing his face shining over Gotham City in place of the Bat Signal, and he has blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the crisis. As for Yongsik Lee, he said he is on the side of the protesters, whom he sees as mostly peaceful, at least when compared to the chaos of the Rodney King riots. In fact, he finds common ground between the Koreans of the '90s and present-day Latino migrants, both of whom he sees as scapegoats for the party in power. But he acknowledged that after three decades, the 'Rooftop Koreans' ' place in the history of Los Angeles depends on who you ask. 'There's a lot of different Koreans,' Lee said. 'When you're up on the roof, every Korean thinks differently.'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
After a senator's posts about the Minnesota shootings, his incensed colleagues refused to let it go
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mike Lee has in recent years become one of the Senate's most prolific social media posters, his presence seen in thousands of posts, often late at night, about politics. Fellow senators have grown accustomed to the Utah Republican's pugnacious online persona, mostly brushing it off in the name of collegiality. That is, until this past week. His posts, after the June 14 fatal shooting of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, incensed Lee's colleagues, particularly senators who were friends with the victims. It all added to the charged atmosphere in the Capitol as lawmakers once more confronted political violence in America. As the Senate convened for the week, Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., marched past a crowd of reporters and headed toward the Senate floor: "I can't talk right now, I have to go find Sen. Lee." Smith, whose name was listed in the suspected shooter's notebooks recovered by law enforcement officials, spoke to Lee for several minutes. The next day, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., did the same. By midday Tuesday, Lee had deleted his tweets. 'I would say he seemed surprised to be confronted,' Smith later told reporters. The shooting unfolds On the morning of June 14, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., announced that former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, had been shot and killed in their home outside Minneapolis. Another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, were critically injured, in a shooting at their home nearby. The next day, as police searched for the shooter, Lee posted a photo of the alleged shooter with the caption 'Nightmare on Waltz street" — an apparent misspelled attempt to shift blame toward Walz, who was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2024. In a separate post on his personal account, @BasedMikeLee, the senator shared photos of the alleged suspect alongside the caption: 'this is what happens When Marxists don't get their way.' On his official Senate social media account, Lee was 'condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families.' A spokesperson for Lee did not respond to a request for comment. The man arrested, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, held deeply religious and politically conservative views. After moving to Minnesota about a decade ago, Boelter volunteered for a position on a state workforce development board, first appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and later by Walz. Boelter has been charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. Lee's online posts draw bipartisan backlash Once a critic of Donald Trump, Lee has since become one of the president's most loyal allies. Lee's online persona is well established, but this year it has become especially prominent: a Salt Lake Tribune analysis found that in the first three months of 2025, Lee averaged nearly 100 posts per day on X. What was different this time was the backlash came not just from Democrats. To Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Lee's posts were 'insensitive, to say the least, inappropriate, for sure' and 'not even true.' 'I just think whenever you rush to a judgment like this, when your political instincts kick in during a tragedy, you probably should realign some priorities,' Cramer said. Republican state Rep. Nolan West wrote on social media that his respect for Lee had been 'rescinded.' A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not respond to a request for comment. Last Monday night, after Smith's confrontation with Lee, a senior member of her staff sent a pointed message to Lee's office. 'It is important for your office to know how much additional pain you've caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend,' wrote Ed Shelleby, Smith's deputy chief of staff. He added, 'I pray that Senator Lee and your office begin to see the people you work with in this building as colleagues and human beings.' Lee avoided reporters for much of the week, though he did tell them he had deleted the posts after a 'quick' discussion with Klobuchar. Lee has not apologized publicly. "We had a good discussion, and I'm very glad he took it down,' Klobuchar said at a news conference. Tragedy prompts reflection in Congress The uproar came at a tense time for the Senate, which fashions itself as a political institution that values decorum and respect. Senators are under intense pressure to react to the Trump administration's fast-paced agenda and multiple global conflicts. Republicans are in high-stakes negotiations over the party's tax and spending cuts plan. Democrats are anxious about how to confront the administration, especially after federal agents briefly detained Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., at a recent Department of Homeland Security news conference in California. Lawmakers believe it's time to lower the temperature. 'I don't know why Mike took the comments down, but it was the right thing to do,' said Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. 'I appreciate my Republican colleagues who were very clear with their observations. And those that spoke up, I want to commend them." He added: 'We just all have to talk to each other. And what I learned from this week is people need to lean on each other more, and just get to know each other more as well."
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
After a senator's posts about the Minnesota shootings, his incensed colleagues refused to let it go
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mike Lee has in recent years become one of the Senate's most prolific social media posters, his presence seen in thousands of posts, often late at night, about politics. Fellow senators have grown accustomed to the Utah Republican's pugnacious online persona, mostly brushing it off in the name of collegiality. That is, until this past week. His posts, after the June 14 fatal shooting of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, incensed Lee's colleagues, particularly senators who were friends with the victims. It all added to the charged atmosphere in the Capitol as lawmakers once more confronted political violence in America. As the Senate convened for the week, Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., marched past a crowd of reporters and headed toward the Senate floor: 'I can't talk right now, I have to go find Sen. Lee.' Smith, whose name was listed in the suspected shooter's notebooks recovered by law enforcement officials, spoke to Lee for several minutes. The next day, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., did the same. By midday Tuesday, Lee had deleted his tweets. 'I would say he seemed surprised to be confronted,' Smith later told reporters. The shooting unfolds On the morning of June 14, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., announced that former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, had been shot and killed in their home outside Minneapolis. Another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, were critically injured, in a shooting at their home nearby. The next day, as police searched for the shooter, Lee posted a photo of the alleged shooter with the caption 'Nightmare on Waltz street' — an apparent misspelled attempt to shift blame toward Walz, who was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2024. In a separate post on his personal account, @BasedMikeLee, the senator shared photos of the alleged suspect alongside the caption: 'this is what happens When Marxists don't get their way.' On his official Senate social media account, Lee was 'condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families.' A spokesperson for Lee did not respond to a request for comment. The man arrested, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, held deeply religious and politically conservative views. After moving to Minnesota about a decade ago, Boelter volunteered for a position on a state workforce development board, first appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and later by Walz. Boelter has been charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. Lee's online posts draw bipartisan backlash Once a critic of Donald Trump, Lee has since become one of the president's most loyal allies. Lee's online persona is well established, but this year it has become especially prominent: a Salt Lake Tribune analysis found that in the first three months of 2025, Lee averaged nearly 100 posts per day on X. What was different this time was the backlash came not just from Democrats. To Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Lee's posts were 'insensitive, to say the least, inappropriate, for sure' and 'not even true.' 'I just think whenever you rush to a judgment like this, when your political instincts kick in during a tragedy, you probably should realign some priorities,' Cramer said. Republican state Rep. Nolan West wrote on social media that his respect for Lee had been 'rescinded.' A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not respond to a request for comment. Last Monday night, after Smith's confrontation with Lee, a senior member of her staff sent a pointed message to Lee's office. 'It is important for your office to know how much additional pain you've caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend,' wrote Ed Shelleby, Smith's deputy chief of staff. He added, 'I pray that Senator Lee and your office begin to see the people you work with in this building as colleagues and human beings.' Lee avoided reporters for much of the week, though he did tell them he had deleted the posts after a 'quick' discussion with Klobuchar. Lee has not apologized publicly. 'We had a good discussion, and I'm very glad he took it down,' Klobuchar said at a news conference. Tragedy prompts reflection in Congress The uproar came at a tense time for the Senate, which fashions itself as a political institution that values decorum and respect. Senators are under intense pressure to react to the Trump administration's fast-paced agenda and multiple global conflicts. Republicans are in high-stakes negotiations over the party's tax and spending cuts plan. Democrats are anxious about how to confront the administration, especially after federal agents briefly detained Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., at a recent Department of Homeland Security news conference in California. Lawmakers believe it's time to lower the temperature. 'I don't know why Mike took the comments down, but it was the right thing to do,' said Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. 'I appreciate my Republican colleagues who were very clear with their observations. And those that spoke up, I want to commend them.' He added: 'We just all have to talk to each other. And what I learned from this week is people need to lean on each other more, and just get to know each other more as well.' ___ Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
