SWAT team called in after fugitive barricaded in Rock Hill motel room shoots himself

Police are investigating a self-inflicted shooting of a fugitive at a Rock Hill motel, officials said.

Federal agents were trying to serve an arrest warrant Tuesday afternoon when the suspect shot himself, officials said.

Officers from the York County Sheriff’s office and South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division had accompanied agents from from the U.S. Marshals Service to the Bestway Inn on Riverview Road when the shooting happened, according to a statement from the Rock Hill Police Department.

The suspect barricaded himself in a room before the shooting, officials said.

According to an account released by the Rock Hill P.D. Tuesday night, SLED Agents and officers with the sheriff’s office “took up perimeter positions and called for additional officers from the Rock Hill Police Department, which dispatched a SWAT team.

“SWAT Officers approached the room and could see the subject through the open door,” according to the account. “Officers entered the room and saw the subject with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers then called for EMS to render aid” and the suspect was flown to Carolinas Medical Center.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, was the only one who fired a weapon, said Rock Hill police Lt. Michael Chavis.

No officers or anyone else at the motel were injured, Chavis said.

Police had Riverview Road blocked from Eden Terrace to Cherry Road for more than an hour during the incident. Motel guests were escorted out of the building and businesses on Riverview Road were told to send customers home if possible.

The scene was cleared by around 5 p.m.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 7:12 PM.