Shooting deaths of 4 Pendleton family members shocks community, leaves questions

Mike and Cathy Scott appeared to be a happy couple who lived their lives in Pendleton about far from trouble as could be imagined.

“They were definitely good people,” said their pastor, the Rev. Harry Warren, pastor of Lebanon Baptist Church in Anderson. “This is a total tragedy and a total shock that somebody could do this.”

The shooting deaths of the couple and their mothers is one of 11 mass shootings in South Carolina this year. The Anderson County Sheriff's Office is investigating the deaths at the rural home outside of Pendleton and don't have any new information to release in the November case.

Warren said while Mike Scott, 59, had a difficult period in his life, he had recovered 15 years ago and was a “positive person” who worked hard and loved his family. He was a member of Lebanon Baptist.

The couple took in his mother, Barbara Scott, 80, when her health began failing several years ago, Warren said. Barbara Scott was a longtime member of the church and a nursery worker who loved children, Warren said, and startled easily.

“One thing you never did was walk up behind her and touched her or scared her because you might get hit,” he said joking. “If you came up and put your hand on her shoulder you better be ready to move.”

Violet Taylor, 82, was Cathy Scott’s mother and also lived with the couple.

Warren said the joy of the Scotts was their two grandchildren. He said they helped in raising their grandchildren and often brought them to church. The grandchildren lived with their mother at another home on the same property.

Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said Mike Scott last talked to someone the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 31. The next day, a relative came to the door and could not get an answer, Shore said. Cathy Scott’s daughter, Amy Valardi, was the one who discovered the bodies Monday, he said.

He said it looked like each of the elderly mothers had come out of their bedrooms, one in pajamas, to see “what the commotion was.”

He said they were killed in the couple’s living room along with Mike Scott. His wife was either shot or stabbed there and then ran to a bedroom, where she was found.

Warren said the shootings were a shock.

“There’s just an awful lot of questions about who did this because of the horrific nature of the murders,” he said.