FBI helping gather data in officers’ ambush
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 Friday. His deputies, based in the state capital of Columbia, are investigating the case at the request of the sheriff in Florence County, about 90 miles to the east, where the slayings took place Wednesday afternoon.
The suspect, 74-year-old Frederick Hopkins, was charged with murder and six counts of attempted murder Friday.
The decorated Vietnam War veteran had set an ambush for investigators coming to question his adult son about a child sexual assault, Lott said.
Hopkins was hospitalized after he was taken into custody Wednesday, but was taken to jail Friday, Lott said.
Two of the wounded officers have been released from the hospital. Lott said others remain in critical condition but did not provide details.
Carraway's funeral is scheduled Monday at the city's civic center.