Man Accused Of Fatal S.C. Mall Shooting Had Been Charged With Stalking Wife Earlier

Thursday, June 14th 2007, 3:48 pm

By: News On 6

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ A man police say stalked and harassed his estranged wife repeatedly in recent weeks was arrested Thursday, a day after they say he wounded the woman and killed her father outside a shopping mall.

Michael James Young Jr., 21, had been arrested earlier in the month and charged with stalking Shaunna Lynn Bell. He had been freed on $75,000 bail and ordered not to have contact with her.

The same day as the shootings at Columbiana Centre, Bell told police Young was harassing her over the telephone. Police said they were in the process of getting arrest warrants on those charges when Young confronted Bell at the mall, then followed her to a parking lot where her father was waiting and shot them both.

Robert Bell, 49, of Gaston, died at the scene; his 21-year-old daughter was in stable condition at a hospital Thursday, police Chief Dean Crisp said.

``We did all that we could do in the matter, and the courts did, and we're certainly going to look at our situation,'' Crisp said, when asked if a stiffer bail could have prevented the shootings.

Charges against Young were not immediately available.

Also arrested Thursday was Brian Christian Leagones, who police said drove Young away from the shootings. Leagones, 21, was being held on charges of obstruction of justice and accessory to murder, police said.

It could not immediately be determined whether either suspect had an attorney.

Police said Young had been harassing Bell for about a month before the shootings. According to police records, he approached her at the mall kiosk where she worked and threatened to damage her parents' car.