Man dies after being shot by deputy that he fired at, SC sheriff says

An armed man who was injured in a shootout with a law enforcement officer has died while being treated at a hospital in Columbia, South Carolina officials said.

Ray Hunt, a 71-year-old Sumter County resident, died Sunday at Prisma Health Richland hospital, Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker said. Hunt died from the injuries he suffered in a March 29 shooting that involved a Sumter County deputy, according to the sheriff’s office.

During that incident, deputies responded to a 911 call about a man holding a woman at gunpoint in the yard of a home on Rhea Drive, the sheriff’s office previously said in an incident report. That’s in a part of Sumter between U.S. 521 and U.S. 378.

The first deputy to arrive at the home where the domestic disturbance was reported found an armed man in the front yard, along with a woman who had been shot by the armed man, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. There was no word about Hunt’s motive for shooting the woman.

The deputy ordered the man, who was later identified as Hunt, to drop his gun, which was still pointed at the injured woman, the sheriff’s office said.

Hunt acknowledged the deputy by making eye contact with him, then pulled the trigger and shot the woman in the chest, according to the incident report.

To protect the woman from further harm, the deputy shot at the armed man, the incident report says. The armed man then shot at the deputy, before he was “was shot multiple times and the threat was stopped,” the sheriff’s office said.

Neither the deputy nor any other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene were injured, according to SLED.

Both the armed man and the woman were airlifted in a helicopter to an area hospital, officials said. Hunt’s death at the Columbia hospital was announced Monday.

Further information on the woman’s condition was not available.

The sheriff’s office said it asked SLED to lead an investigation into the shooting, which is standard protocol when a law enforcement officer is involved. The coroner’s office is also continuing to investigate Hunt’s death, and an autopsy was scheduled to be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, according to Baker.

Although he doesn’t know the outcome of SLED’s investigation, Sheriff Anthony Dennis publicly supported his deputy who was involved in the now deadly shooting.

“I feel confident that my deputy acted appropriately as he faced a critical incident,” Dennis said in a news release. “I have reviewed his actions and am confident his actions saved not only his own life, but the life of the female victim. I anticipate any agency who looks at the evidence will come to the same conclusion.”

There was no word if the deputy involved in the shooting had been temporarily reassigned during the investigation.

Dennis also said he recognizes that this is a very volatile situation for everyone involved, and understands that this has been a very difficult time for Hunt’s family and sends his condolences to them.

SLED said this was the first time this year that a law enforcement officer with the sheriff’s office was involved in a shooting.

This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Man dies after being shot by deputy that he fired at, SC sheriff says."

Noah Feit

The State

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Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription