Not a lot of details. One suspect in custody, one person in the house with the suspect also shot, three sheriff’s deputies and four city police officers shot.
Two other officers conditions are described as “tough and go.”
The radio call for an officer down made it sound like one officer went to the scene — not sure why — was shot and then other officers rushed to help and were also shot.
Okay — let me back up — WPDE.TV reporting that the initial call to the house was about shots fired in the home.
Florence is on I-95, about half way between Columbia and Myrtle Beach. It’s been experiencing flooding from the ironically named Hurricane Florence.
WPDE.TV if reporting it’s a city police officer who died. No ID released yet, and that the suspect has also been taken to the hospital. No indication of what his injuries are.
This is from WBTW.TV:
According to Chief Deputy Glen Kirby, with the Florence County Sheriff's Office, the suspect surrendered to deputies after talking with a negotiator and has been taken to the hospital for treatment.
Kirby also says a 20-year-old male inside the home was also shot and is still alive.
Kirby confirmed around 4:55 p.m. that a deputy has been shot in the area of Hoffmeyer Road near the Vintage Place neighborhood.
Kirby confirmed around 5:30 p.m. that three deputies and two City of Florence officers have been shot.
Here’s a photo from Twitter of the house. As someone said below, McMansion.
Listening to a news conference tonight — I think this is the Florence county sheriff — they didn’t identify themselves.
Thought they were serving a routine search warrant? (Doesn’t square with what we heard earlier — reports of shots fired in a home) Gunfire started immediately. Officers responding didn’t know the firepower the suspect had.
Suspect was positioned so that his view of fire was several hundred yards. So he had an advantage, and the officers couldn’t get to the ones who were down.
They used an armored personnel carrier to get to the injured officers.
Richland County (Which is in Columbia) Sheriff Lott — Horrendous, emotional evening.
Lost a good friend, known for 30 years. Three other officers in the hospital.
Officers were responding to scene where they knew brothers and sister officers were in need, described the department as a family. Asks for prayers.
Describes dead officer as the bravest police officer I have ever known.
Associated Press reporting three county deputies were serving a warrant, fired upon from inside the house, four city fficers responded and the suspect held them off for two hours, holding children inside the house as hostages. Children made it out safely.