Deputy Shot at South Carolina Gun Show Returns Fire and Kills Gunman
A Lexington County sheriff’s deputy working security at a gun and knife show near Columbia, South Carolina, was shot by a patron on Saturday afternoon. The deputy returned fire and killed the gunman, The Associated Press reported.
The deputy was taken to hospital and went into surgery. He is in a stable condition, the sheriff’s department said.
Officials have not released the names of the deputy or the man who was killed, and no motive for the shooting has been made public.
What happened at Jamil Temple
The shooting happened on Saturday, 14 November, at Jamil Temple on Jamil Road, in the Harbison area just off Interstate 26 near St Andrews Road. The South Carolina Arms Collectors Association was holding its weekend gun and knife show at the venue.
Based on early information, the sheriff’s department said a person attending the event shot the deputy. The deputy fired back, hitting the man, who died.
The sheriff’s office gave no further details about what happened in the moments before the shots were fired, and it did not say where on the body the deputy was hit. Early witness accounts carried by local media suggested the deputy was hit in the leg, but officials have not confirmed that.
The Columbia Police Department is assisting with the response, and the sheriff’s department said there was no ongoing threat to the public after the shooting.
Investigation under way
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, is investigating the shooting. That is standard practice in South Carolina whenever an officer fires a weapon.
Investigators have not said whether the gunman was a registered attendee of the show, how he came to be armed inside the venue, or whether any other people were injured. No charges can be brought against the dead man, but the inquiry will establish the sequence of events and whether any rules were broken before the shooting.
Officer-involved shootings in the state are routinely examined by SLED rather than by the agency whose officer fired, so that the findings are independent of the department involved.
Loaded guns banned inside the show
Rules posted on the gun show’s website ban loaded firearms inside the event, except for those carried by on-duty police officers. All other weapons must have their actions secured while on the premises.
Jamil Temple is owned by the Shriners and is frequently rented out for gun shows, jewellery expos, roller derbies and other events. The temple sits at 206 Jamil Road, a short distance from the interstate in a busy commercial area of the Harbison district.
The show had been scheduled to run across the weekend. It was not immediately clear on Saturday evening whether the event would continue on Sunday.
Reaction and wider context
South Carolina Governor-elect Alan Wilson posted a message of prayer for the deputy’s recovery on Saturday, as news of the shooting spread.
The shooting comes during a demanding period for law enforcement agencies in the United States. Earlier this month, a global dark-web drug crackdown led to 354 arrests, while a bomb scare at an ethanol plant in Peoria, Illinois, forced more than 5,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Gun shows remain a regular feature of American life, particularly in the South, and they are generally held under strict rules about loaded weapons. Saturday’s shooting is a reminder that those rules depend on every person inside the venue following them — and that the officers hired to enforce them can themselves become targets.
What happens next
SLED’s investigation is continuing. The names of the deputy and the gunman, the deputy’s precise injuries and the motive for the attack are all expected to be released only when investigators are ready to share them.
The deputy’s condition will be updated by the sheriff’s office as his recovery progresses. For now, the department’s message is that he is stable, that the gunman is dead, and that the public is not in danger.
