Special FBI team helping local authorities probe deadly South Carolina attack
>> COLUMBIA: A special FBI team that investigated the slayings five police officers in Dallas in 2016 and the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas last year is helping local authorities gather evidence in what’s described as an ambush attack that killed one South Carolina law enforcement officer and wounded six others.
“This is a large crime scene. This is a very large, complex puzzle that we are still filling the pieces in,’’ Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told news reporters on Friday. His deputies, based in the state capital of Columbia, are investigating the case at the request of the sheriff in Florence County, about 145 kilmetres to the east, where the slayings took place on Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect, 74-year-old Frederick Hopkins, was charged with murder and six counts of attempted murder on Friday.
The decorated Vietnam War veteran had set an ambush for investigators coming to question his adult son about a child sexual assault, Mr Lott said.
Mr Hopkins was hospitalised after he was taken into custody on Wednesday, but was taken to jail on Friday, Mr Lott said.
Florence County investigators had called Mr Hopkins’ home and arranged to speak to his 28-year-old son, Seth Hopkins, about a sex assault investigation on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Lott said, adding that they had a search warrant. Officials had previously given the son’s age as 27.
The three deputies were shot without warning as they got out of their car, he said.
Dozens of officers rushed to help as the gunman shot four city of Florence officers. Police Sgt Terrence Carraway was killed.
So many rounds were fired with such powerful weapons that it took up to 30 minutes to get an armoured vehicle close enough to rescue the wounded officers, Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler said. The standoff lasted two hours.
Several children in the home were not harmed, authorities said.
Seth Hopkins was charged on Friday with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Authorities didn’t immediately release details about the crime. Mr Lott said Seth Hopkins also was hospitalised after the shooting but was released from hospital care and jailed on Friday.
WBTW-TV reports Judge Tommy Mourounas denied bail for Frederick T Hopkins, who needed help getting in and out of the courtroom and appeared dazed and tired.
Mr Mourounas asked Mr Hopkins: “Do you understand where you’re at right now?’’
Mr Hopkins responded, “No, where am I?’’
The judge replied, “You’re at bond hearing court’’.
The court delayed a decision whether to appoint him a lawyer until his financial status can be verified.
The judge also denied bail for Seth Hopkins, who was not assigned a public defender.
Frederick Hopkins’ wife, Cheryl Turner Hopkins, is an attorney and attended a hearing on Friday that Solicitor Ed Clements said concerned emergency custody for children in the home. The solicitor did not provide details on the hearing and the Family Court judge sealed the case.
Cheryl Turner Hopkins told a WPDE-TV reporter outside the courtroom that she is sorry for the officers’ families and asked for prayers.
Two of the wounded officers have been released from the hospital. Mr Lott said others remain in critical condition but did not provide details.
Frederick Hopkins is a Vietnam veteran and a disbarred attorney. His US Army records show he was awarded a marksman badge with pistol bar and a sharpshooter with rifle bar decorations during 11 years of service starting in 1966.
Mr Hopkins also was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroism defending a firebase under attack by North Vietnamese forces on May 6, 1970.
As a US Army captain, Mr Hopkins carried medical supplies across an open area, “braving shrapnel from exploding mortar rounds’’, according to the letter explaining the award. He was critically wounded when a mortar round exploded near him, the letter said.