Man killed, deputy wounded in shootout in Indian Land in Lancaster County SC
An armed man was killed and a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputy wounded during a shootout Friday night just south of Charlotte in South Carolina, officials said.
The names of the man who was killed and the deputy who was hurt have not been released by the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office or police officials.
The armed man died at the scene, said Tommy Crosby, spokesman for the State Law Enforcement Division. The deputy was shot in the lower body and suffered serious injuries, according to Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile.
The deputy is hospitalized but is expected to recover, Faile said.
No other people were injured, officials said.
The incident happened before 7 p.m. at the Court at Redstone apartments in the Indian Land area of Lancaster County, officials said. The area is near the intersection of S.C. 160 and U.S 521 close to the Ballantyne area in North Carolina. Indian Land is east of York County and Fort Mill.
Search warrant in missing person case
Lancaster County deputies were serving a search warrant in a missing persons case when shots were exchanged between the armed man and the deputy, according to Crosby and Sheriff Faile.
Lancaster sheriff’s office Doug Barfield said in a statement deputies had been asked to do a welfare check at the apartment on the person reported missing by family members. After deputies could not get anyone to come to the door, they received the search warrant and entered the apartment without use of force, Barfield said. When deputies went inside,the armed man fired on them, Barfield said.
One of the deputies returned fire, killing the armed man, Barfield said.
South Carolina state police investigating
SLED was called to investigate by the sheriff’s office because deputies were involved in the shooting.
The Lancaster County shootout is the 30th officer involved shooting in South Carolina in 2021. SLED is still investigating a shooting involving a Lancaster Police Department officer in early September where the officer fired at a suspect in an unrelated case.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
