Wounded officer called an 'integral member' of special teams

Beaufort County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Mark Cobb is a highly trained, specialized deputy whose work has prepared him for situations like the one Wednesday, his colleagues say.

"He's an integral member of our special teams," Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. Bob Bromage said. "He's got a variety of specialties that are utilized in these type situations."

Attempts to reach Cobb on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Cobb was shot through the left shoulder serving a search warrant on Lady's Island and treated and released from Beaufort Memorial Hospital. He has been with the Sheriff's Office 11 years and is assigned to its special operations section.

He is a member of the SWAT team, bomb squad and dive team, a federally certified bomb technician and explosive-detection K-9 handler, according to a Sheriff's Office release.

Cobb is also a tactical and advanced skills coordinator at Able Tactical, which offers firearms instruction, according to his biography on its website.

Before joining the Sheriff's Office, Cobb was in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne 3rd U.S. Infantry, the biography said.

Cobb "maintains the philosophy your mind is the most powerful weapon and believes in training for every possibility to ensure that you are prepared for any event," the site reads.

"He's very trustworthy; he's level-headed," said Shane Clevenger, Able Tactical's founder and a former Beaufort County Sheriff's deputy who said he worked with Cobb on SWAT and dive teams.

"Sometimes bad things happen to good people."

Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 6:34 PM with the headline "Wounded officer called an 'integral member' of special teams."