'They lift people up': Two Maine spin teachers recovering from shooting in South Carolina

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Two Maine women are recovering in a hospital in South Carolina after they were shot there over the weekend. Police say it happened during a random incident in Charleston. They're both expected to survive, but are still down south recovering. As CBS 13 Sam Decosta reports, both Mainers have dedicated their careers to motivating others.

[00:00:18]Jibe Cycling is a spin studio with locations here in Maine and in South Carolina. Two instructors who are based here in Maine were in South Carolina over the weekend on vacation. But they were both hospitalized after they were hurt in a late-night shooting. Somebody fired fired a gun at 353 King Street. Multiple shots. Early Sunday morning, two people got into an argument outside a pizzeria in downtown Charleston. Police say the suspect, 35-year-old Andre Ramon Nesbit, shot and killed one person and injured two bystanders. Those bystanders were two 26-year-old women from Maine. We are choosing not to identify them as their families are opting for privacy at this time. But according to Joanna Witherell, they both live in Maine and they're both spin teachers. They fill up a room. They're rooting for people 100% of the time.

[00:01:09]Um Both of them are always smiling. Um they're they're pretty incredible.

[00:01:15]They're trying to lift people up all the time.

[00:01:18]Um absolute bright lights. Witherell says one of them is a studio manager. The other is also a trainer and a fifth-grade teacher at Westbrook Middle School. She has a bubbly personality, uh a very engaging personality. Westbrook Superintendent Peter Lancia says she is in good spirits and she hopes to be back in her classroom before the end of the school year.

[00:01:39]>> She would be sending in lesson plans when she is able and uh she's she's intending to be able pretty quickly.

[00:01:45]Always thinking about her students, you know, which is is is pretty typical of who she is. Witherell says their bodies will take some time, but they are both in stable condition. In Portland, Sam Decosta, CBS 13 News.

[00:01:59]And two GoFundMe pages have been posted for both victims to help cover those medical costs. Right now, they've raised more than a combined $118,000.