The call came into a 911 dispatcher shortly after 3 a.m. Friday.
It was a child.
Her father had a rifle and a shotgun. He was going to shoot someone, then kill himself, she said.
A man also in the house confirmed what the girl said. He added there were other children in the house.
Deputies raced to Coldstream Drive in Boiling Springs, a community of about 10,000 in Spartanburg County.
They called to the man with the gun to some out peacefully, Lt. Kevin Bobo said in a news release.
Nothing.
Then the man deputies talked to and several children climbed out a window and ran to deputies. One child was left behind.
Holding the child, the suspect went in and out of the house. He had a rifle. He pointed the firearm at deputies, the child and then himself.
“He never complied with numerous verbal commands to drop his weapon; so deputies fired their weapons in defense of the hostage and themselves,” Bobo said.
The child was safe. The deputies, unharmed. The man was dead.
His identity has not been released by the Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office.
This is the fourth shooting involving law enforcement in Spartanburg County this year.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting as they do all deaths involving law enforcement.