Decker Boulevard and Two Notch, Percival and Broad River roads were the Midlands’ killing zone in 2006.

Eighteen people were killed on or near those roads bordering the city of Columbia.

The areas surrounding those high-traffic thoroughfares are urban — lined by storefronts and restaurants — but don’t quite have the glamour of downtown Columbia. They are peppered with neighborhood enclaves of neat homes — the vestiges of their time as Columbia’s suburbs — but they can’t compete with the allure of the new homes of Richland Northeast or the northwest corner of the county.

Residents understand their fate: a rising violent-crime rate with no solution in sight.

“We’re kind of largely forgotten,” said Ed Judice, president of the Northeast Alliance and a member of the Windsor Lake Park Homeowners Association. “There are a lot of locations where (murders) can occur.”

Windsor Lake Park is a community of mostly older residents bordered by Two Notch Road and Decker Boulevard, where empty storefronts dot the landscape.

Judice calls it a community in transition — one that flourished in the 1960s but now, as older residents are dying off, has more transient renters.

The community’s leaders say they are concerned — but not surprised — that most of Richland County’s homicides last year happened in their backyards.

They say young people are fleeing to the Northeast and taking chances of a community revival with them.

“It’s to be expected,” Judice said. “They live here until they can afford to move to WildeWood.”

RECORD NUMBERS

Seventeen of the homicides near Decker, Percival, Broad River and Two Notch were in territory patrolled by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. That’s more than half of the 30 deaths that the department investigated in 2006.

The homicides include two double slayings — one on Broad River Road and the other on Two Notch Road — and a triple fatality at an apartment complex off Decker Boulevard.

Seven of the other 13 homicides were spread out south of Interstate 20 and west of Interstate 77. Six were on the fringes of the county, including ones near Elgin, Irmo and Hopkins.

Thirty homicides is the most the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has investigated since 1978, the earliest year for which records are available.

By comparison, the city of Columbia had eight homicides last year. Lexington County had 11, and Kershaw County had two.

The Sheriff’s Department handled more homicides in 2006 than any of the state’s major local law enforcement agencies.

The North Charleston Police Department came in a close second, with 29 homicide victims. That city has 86,313 residents; the unincorporated areas of Richland County have 212,220 residents.

The problem perplexes Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.

The Decker-Two Notch-Percival area already has more deputies assigned to it than any other area patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department.

“How do you address it?” Lott asked. “We’re already concentrated on Two Notch.”

Deputies patrol the area and attend community watch meetings, hearing residents’ concerns and giving tips on how not to be a victim.

Lott is hiring 20 new deputies, including 10 who started work this month. Half will work in Lower Richland, which doesn’t have as many people but is larger geographically.

Six deputies will patrol the Northeast, which has seen a real-estate — and population — boom in the past decade.

Lott said the other four will be divided between Broad River Road, Farrow Road and U.S. 321.

Other than a little bit more manpower, Lott isn’t planning on doing anything different in 2007.

“We are going to continue to do what we are doing,” he said. “We don’t know how many murders we prevented this year.”

THE KILLING ZONES

Seven people were killed either on or off of Two Notch Road in 2006.

Two were killed north of I-77, less than a month apart. Two were killed at a Wendy’s restaurant just south of I-20, near Columbia Mall, in September. Three died between Pinebelt Road and Victory Street.

Decker and Broad River roads each had four deaths.

On Decker, three people died from gunshot wounds at an apartment complex on the corner of Ranch Road and Decker in November. A business owner died in a shooting about a block north of the apartments in August.

On Broad River, four people, including the victims of a double homicide, were killed between Briargate Circle and Nunamaker Drive — about half a mile apart.

Percival Road had two killings, about 3½ miles and 21 days apart.

“It’s scary,” said Ruby Thomas, vice president of the Windsor Lake Homeowners Association. “These are the times that we are living in.”

Thomas and other residents are encouraged by the county’s plan to revamp Decker Boulevard. Unveiled in November, the plan would add sidewalks, housing and an amphitheater, among other things.

“If that goes forward, it would change completely,” she said. “We’re hoping for that.”

But it won’t be a quick fix. If Richland County Council approves the redevelopment plan, which has no projected cost, it would take 10 to 15 years to complete.

Decker Boulevard, Two Notch Road and Percival Road make up the Sheriff’s Department’s Region 2. Compared to the rest of the county, Region 2 ranks in the middle in terms of household income, poverty levels and unemployment, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It ranks toward the bottom in college education.

Lott says one reason the homicides were clustered in the area could be that its roads are some of the most heavily traveled in the county, excluding interstates.

Two Notch and Percival were among the top quarter of the county’s busiest roads in 2005, according to the state Department of Transportation. That’s the most recent information available.

Traffic, and the high number of police calls in that area, are two of the reasons Region 2 has the most patrol deputies.

“Before 2006 started, if you were to ask me where most of our crime would occur, I would say these areas,” Lott said.

In 2006, Region 2 had 503 reported violent crimes, including murders, rapes, robberies and assaults, according to the department’s December report. That’s up 6 percent from 2005. It’s also the most reported violent crimes of any region in the county.

Overall, violent crime across the county was up more than 10 percent in 2006 from 2005.

‘DIFFICULT TO TRACK, PREDICT’

On the other side of Richland County, there were four homicides along Broad River Road.

The four victims died within less than half a mile of each other from May to October.

Prince Gilliam and Tavaris Bell were shot and killed while driving in the 2400 block of Broad River on Oct. 28.

“I usually see Richland County (deputies) up and down Broad River Road in that particular area,” said Candy Gardner, Gilliam’s mother. “They can’t be everywhere at all times, but I think they really need to have a little bit more heavy patrolling in that area later at night.”

Lott said murder can’t be prevented with more patrols. In some cases, he said, the department can help — arriving quickly at a domestic dispute before it escalates to murder or educating business owners about what to do during a robbery.

But, he added, “Murders are just something very difficult to track and predict.”

ARRESTS

Because of multiple homicides, the 30 victims involve only 26 cases. The Sheriff’s Department has made arrests in 21 of the cases — or 80 percent.

That’s better than the 63 percent arrest rate for homicides in counties of Richland’s size, according to the FBI.

One case, the June 4 shooting death of elementary-school teacher Karen Yongue, was a murder/suicide.

In another case, the Aug. 24 shooting death of Duck Kee Kim, owner of a Decker Boulevard pool hall, investigators have a suspect but haven’t found him. Carlos Gaona Saucedo, 22, wanted on murder charges, last lived on Batchelor Street in West Columbia.

Three cases have stumped investigators:

• Jaking White, 17, whose body was found Jan. 21 on Busby Street, near the pedestrian bridge at S.C. 277

• Michael Steed, shot during a robbery at his house at 6:39 a.m. on Oct. 26

• Joseph L. Richardson, shot to death Nov. 13 in an apartment he shared with his brother

In most cases, the department brings charges quickly. Detectives averaged five days between a homicide and an arrest.

The longest lag was the 18 days it took to arrest Keitrick Maurice Stevenson in the Oct. 14 shooting death of Tyrone Miller. The shortest was Thaddess Ricardo Starks, arrested just moments after the stabbing of his stepfather.

“There’s nothing good you can say about homicide,” Lott said. “We’ve been able to clear them and make an arrest.”

The victims and suspects in Richland County’s homicides were of all ages, races and backgrounds.

Circumstances and time of day also were across the board.

“Murder is just a unusual type of crime,” Lott said, adding that’s one of the reasons it is hard to prevent.

The victims included a 1-year-old shaken after taking a bath; a 32-year-old strip-club manager shot after an argument; and a 61-year-old store worker beaten with a beer can during an armed robbery.

The suspects included a 15-year-old girl accused of dressing as a man to rob people; a 25-year-old husband and father of two with no criminal record; and a 62-year-old real estate attorney with a long list of awards and a documented bipolar disorder.

The average victim was a 36-year-old black man who knew his attacker. The average suspect was a 28-year-old black man who used a gun.

Lott said his department has noticed that most of the homicide victims and suspects have been black people in recent years.

“African-American on African-American crime is a concern,” Lott said.

“We’ve tried to address that,” he added, citing efforts to start community watch programs in black neighborhoods.

Most disquieting to Lott were the two double homicides and the triple homicide.

“I cannot recall in 32 years of being here where we had so many multiple murders. It’s very unique and disturbing.”

From January to October, the department averaged two murders a month. In November, there were seven.

Again, Lott shrugs his shoulders. “We had zero for December and March.”

And zero, so far, for 2007.

Other county officials are short on ideas about how to combat the problem. Some County Council members didn’t know 2006’s homicide numbers were that high.

“It kind of shocked me that its located in just one particular area,” said Councilman Damon Jeter, whose district includes portions of Decker Boulevard and Two Notch Road. “I don’t know why we’ve had a large increase of homicides. I do know that County Council members need to be aware.”

As for solutions, Jeter deferred to Lott.

THOSE LEFT BEHIND

The impact of the homicides cannot be shown with numbers.

Michelle White’s daughter Nakia Mallory was stabbed to death on Mother’s Day. Mallory’s two small children were asleep when it happened.

Deputies arrested Mallory’s husband, Justin, and charged him with murder. His trial could start in March.

White already is in the trial of her life.

After her daughter’s death, she took custody of her two grandchildren.

In September, White married. Her daughter was supposed to be in the wedding.

“My life has completely changed,” White said.

Her grandchildren are just beginning to understand the realities of their mother’s murder.

While decorating the reception hall for her wedding, White’s 3-year-old granddaughter followed behind the decorators.

Recalled White, “She took every knife off the table and said, ‘Now can’t nobody get hurt.’”

Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.