Beaufort County deputy shot while executing search warrant

This story was updated at 10:25 a.m. June 19, 2015, to correct the location as the Westminster neighborhood.

A Beaufort County Sheriff's Office deputy who was shot in the shoulder Wednesday morning while executing a search warrant on Lady's Island is recovering, according to a news release.

Sheriff's Office SWAT team member Sgt. Mark Cobb, an 11-year veteran of the department, was shot in the left shoulder while deputies and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents from Charleston executed a federal search warrant for illegal drugs at a Westminster Place home in the Westminster neighborhood around 6:30 a.m.

SWAT members were breaching a locked bedroom door on the first floor of the home when 28-year-old Tray Jabari Graves allegedly fired several shots at them with a .40 caliber Glock pistol.

One of the shots hit Cobb in the shoulder. Cobb returned fire toward the bedroom, but no one inside was hit, the release said. Other SWAT members called Graves and a woman out of the bedroom; after they exited, Graves, who was the target of the search warrant, was arrested.

The bullet entered and exited Cobb's shoulder. He was treated and released from Beaufort Memorial Hospital soon after the shooting.

Graves has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting, according to the Beaufort County Detention Center log. The shooting is under investigation by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division.

Graves, who was the subject of a joint investigation by the Sheriff's Office and DEA, was also served warrants for federal charges stemming from the investigation. Information about the federal charges was not available Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office will prosecute Graves on all of the charges, including attempted murder, Sheriff's Office Capt. Bob Bromage said.

The Sheriff's Office release said the search yielded illegal drugs, cash and firearms. Bromage declined to identify the drugs found.

Two of the recovered weapons were the Glock pistol and an AK-47, the release said. Both weapons were loaded with a drum magazine, which holds a high number of rounds.

Wednesday's incident marked the first time since 2002 that a deputy in Beaufort County had been shot while on duty, Bromage said. On Jan. 8, 2002, Lance Cpl. Dana Lyle Tate and Cpl. Dyke "A.J." Coursen were shot and killed in a Burton mobile home park while responding to a domestic-violence call.

Abdiyyah ben Alkebulanyahh, formerly known as Tyree Roberts, was sentenced to death in 2003 for their murders. He remains on death row.

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Beaufort County deputy shot while executing search warrant."