LEE COUNTY, S.C. — Friday was a chaotic day for law enforcement officers and residents in rural Lee County, with a shelter-in-place order and county-wide school lockdown Friday morning that ended in tragedy.
A K9 was killed, and two law enforcement officers were wounded following a search for a suspect that ended in gunfire.
Neighbors who live nearby heard everything.
"It's scary out here, I tell you what. Something you would never expect anything like this to happen in such a quiet area," resident Don Clark said. "We were getting reports from a neighbor right over here that there were multiple, there was a large number of gunshots and possibly smoke from a vehicle fire."
Sheriff Daniel Simon of Lee County said law enforcement officers were following a suspect's car when they ran into live fire from him from an assault-style rifle, and the Lee County Sheriff's Office K-9 named Mikka died as a result of the vehicle catching fire.
"Shots that actually hit the vehicle. The vehicle ignited and caught a fire, and, you know, she obviously couldn't get out of the vehicle," Simon said. "The officers couldn't get to the vehicle to open the door, because they, like I said, they were under duress. They couldn't get to the vehicle."
The Sheriff said the incident appears to be connected to another incident Thursday night when the suspect shot and injured an officer in Chesterfield County during a traffic stop.
Authorities said nearly 200 law enforcement officers and 10 agencies were in Lee County to assist on Friday.
"This is a senseless, cowardly act that actually took place today. And you know, I'm getting to the point I'm fed up with this is my eighth officer involved shooting since I've been here, since 2010. This is too much," Simon said.
According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Horry County Police Department took over this shooting investigation at the request of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.