Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office

Deputies are checking Midlands hospitals for someone with a gunshot wound after a would-be burglar broke into an armed 85-year-old woman’s residence early Sunday.

The locked-and-loaded Kennerly Road woman said she was awakened by her dog barking at about 2:15 a.m. She said she grabbed her handgun and went to investigate. When she entered her dining room, she came face to face with an intruder, according to the incident report.

The woman’s first reaction was to yell at the intruder, “What are you doing in my house?” She said the man didn’t budge nor answer her inquiry. Her second reaction was to raise her handgun and fire a round at him.

That got a reaction from the intruder; he ran. The woman said the subject ran out of her back door and fled up a nearby dirt road.

In other reports:

* Hospital staff called deputies early Sunday after a man tried to steal medical items while being seen by a doctor.

RMC staff members said the 30-year-old Orangeburg man, who came in for medical treatment, was observed stuffing items into his clothing. The gig was up, though, when he was told to change into a hospital gown.

He told deputies he had a “medical condition that makes him steal items that he does not need,” the report said.

* A Dragstrip Road man was treated for what he described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

He said he was trying to clear his Model 1911 .45-caliber handgun Saturday night when it discharged. The bullet traveled down his leg and stopped at his ankle.

Orangeburg Public  Department of Safety

Two cars stolen from an Edisto Drive nightclub early Sunday were later located in Bamberg County.

While police were monitoring a crowd at Club Faces at the junction of Edisto Drive and Cannon Bridge Road, an Orangeburg man approached saying his car had been stolen. He pointed out the location where he had parked the Ford.

When the vehicle was entered into NCIC, officers were informed that multiple agencies operating a safety checkpoint in Bamberg County had the vehicle, the report said. Officers there said the subjects in the vehicle abandoned the car near the checkpoint.

A second car was reported stolen from the Orangeburg nightclub. That car also turned up in Bamberg County. At about 3:45 a.m., a county deputy located it abandoned on U.S. 78 east of Bamberg.

It’s not clear if the two car thefts are connected.

* Two men were arrested after several employees at Edisto Village businesses alerted police they had been targeted by shoplifters.

Police were called to the shopping mall just after 4 p.m. Friday by employees at Family Dollar, Maxway and CitiTrends reported multiple shoplifters.

When police arrived, their attention was directed to five men in the parking lot in a black SUV. When police questioned them, they found clothing and candy in the vehicle that officers said were shoplifted.

Two of the five men were identified as having been in the stores. The 19-year-old and the 20-year-old were taken to jail.