Standoff ends with death of man in Newberry County

NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) - A man is dead after a standoff with deputies early Sunday morning in Newberry County. However, deputies said none of them fired their weapons.

Officials were called two times about the man, who had been driving an SUV on a wheel rim on Interstate 26 around 4:30 a.m. Sparks from the wheel on the pavement alerted another driver, who called 911.

A short time later, an employee at a gas station off I-26 at exit 72 also called 911 reporting a man acting in an intoxicated manner. That would be the Citgo gas station on SC 121, right off the exit for Newberry and Whitmire.

When deputies arrived the man had left the store, but they found the SUV parked with an exposed rim. No one was inside the car.

Deputies searched the area until finding the man sitting at the edge of the woods near the Citgo around 6:30 a.m.

When deputies approached the man, he stood up and pulled a gun, the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office said.

The man waved the gun around and ran further into the woods to a ravine, deputies said.

While deputies were talking to the man, they heard a gunshot. When they went to check on him, they said they found the man with a gunshot wound. Emergency crews stationed nearby determined he was dead.

SLED has been asked to investigate, though Sheriff Lee Foster said none of his deputies fired a gun during the standoff.

“We hate someone lost their life, but we are also grateful that none of our deputies were injured in this incident,” Foster said.

The man has not yet been identified because officials are working to notify his next of kin.

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