One person is dead following a standoff with law enforcement in West Columbia, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Deputies arrived at a home near West Columbia about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Koon said. A man inside had two outstanding warrants, both for possession of illegal firearms, and deputies were trying to arrest him.
He began firing at law enforcement and then barricaded himself in a bathroom, Koon said. When the sheriff’s office finally got to the man, he looked “incapacitated.”
The Lexington County coroner’s office pronounced him dead.
Koon said that the man had threatened law enforcement and the public on social media.
One resident of the neighborhood, Bobby Fontenot, said he was awakened by blue lights as police began to arrive.
“Everything came in stages,” Fontenot said. After police came emergency medical services, then more police.
A recording began playing in front of a neighborhood house, demanding that someone “come out of the house with your hands up,” Fontenot said.