7 officers shot in S.C., 1 fatally
FLORENCE, S.C. — Seven South Carolina law enforcement officers were shot, one fatally, in a confrontation with a suspect who held children hostage in a home and fired on deputies, officials said. The suspect was taken into custody after a two-hour standoff.
Maj. Mike Nunn, with the Florence County sheriff’s office, said officers were serving a warrant when the suspect began shooting, wounding three deputies. The deputies had to be removed using a bulletproof vehicle.
Then, four Florence city police officers were shot while trying to respond to the initial gunfire, said Allen Heidler, the Florence police chief. Terrence Carraway, who had just celebrated 30 years as a police officer in the city, was killed, city spokesman John Wukela said.
“I want you to pray for the family who lost the bravest police officer I have ever known,” Heidler said, visibly overcome by emotion at a news conference. Heidler said he had known Carraway for 30 years.
Nunn would not release the suspect’s name or condition, A police officer directs traffic near the Vintage Place neighborhood in Florence, S.C., where three deputies and four city officers were shot Wednesday.
and other details were not immediately disclosed.
The other six wounded officers were receiving treatment at a local hospital.
“This is simply devastating news from Florence,” Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted. “The selfless acts of bravery from the men and women in law enforcement is real, just like the power of prayer is real.”
Authorities said the
shootings happened in Vintage Place, an upscale neighborhood in the western part of the city. The suspect had an advantageous vantage point of several hundred yards, officials said.
“These officers went there unknowing the firepower this suspect had,” Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said, his eyes wet. “He had an advantage. The officers couldn’t get to the ones that were down.”
Florence, a city in South Carolina’s northeastern corner home to roughly 37,000 people, sits at the convergence of Interstates 95 and 20. It’s the largest city in the region known as the Pee Dee, an area recently affected by heavy flooding in the wake of Hurricane Florence.