Man who shot SC sheriff employee hours after release on bail gets max sentence
A South Carolina man who had been free on bail for just hours before shooting an employee of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office last year has been sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison.
Doug Barfield, staff attorney and public information officer at the sheriff’s office, still has a bullet in his arm after he was shot while off-duty and driving his personal truck on May 29, 2024.
Circuit Judge Robert Hood sentenced Tyrone Lamar Gilford, 25, after Gilford pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature last week in Lancaster County criminal court.
Gilford shot Barfield near a gas station in Kershaw in southern Lancaster County. The State Law Enforcement Division said in a statement Barfield was an innocent bystander as Gilford targeted someone else in the shooting around 8 p.m.
Barfield told The Herald he spoke to the judge at the sentencing about how Gilford could have harmed other innocent victims nearby, including children.
“I am thankful no one else in our community was hurt,” Barfield said.
Prior to his work at the sheriff’s office, Barfield was the top prosecutor in Lancaster County from 2006 to 2015 during three decades at the 6th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Current 6th Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman and Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis said in a statement the maximum sentence is appropriate after Gilford shot a random vehicle just hours after being released from jail on bail on previous shooting charges.
