A man who was accused in August of shooting a Vietnam War veteran pleaded guilty to burglary and attempted murder Thursday and has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
32-year-old Wolfgang Liewald shot and injured 70-year-old Wayne Whiteside as a way of getting revenge after Whiteside allegedly had sexually molested the granddaughter of Liewald from 2005 on. The granddaughter plus another man were charged in the shooting too and are in jail.
Whiteside was shot in the abdomen Aug. 23 while he was asleep in his home in Rock Hill. He survived but required multiple surgeries. Whiteside said he remembered seeing a flash and feeling the shot, then got his gun and shot at Liewald and the other man as they fled. He called 911 after that.
According to 16th Circuit Deputy Public Defender B.J. Barrowclough, Liewald’s lawyer, claimed 22-year-old Kaylan Whiteside was the one who developed the plan as revenge for Whiteside molesting her 10 years before.
York County court records show Whiteside had been arrested and charged with lewd act against a child in 2005. Later that year, he also pleaded no contest to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and was on probation for five years on a suspended 10-year sentence to prison, according to records.
Liewald has been convicted several times before, including for burglary and drug possession.
Barrowclough said Liewald’s methamphetamine use and life of crime, including the revenge plan, stems from him being molested by a babysitter at the age of 12.
