Report offers new details surrounding deputy-involved shooting in Bluffton over weekend
New details are emerging about an incident Sunday that left a Bluffton man wounded by a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
Five calls from three different callers were made to the Sheriff’s Office early Sunday, according to a new police report about the incident. The sheriff’s dispatch, which fielded the calls, told deputies a man at the Shady Glen Mobile Home Park in Bluffton was threatening to hurt others and his family at their residence. It also alerted deputies that the man had a weapon, according to the report.
The shooting is being investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. When an officer fires his or her service weapon in the line of duty, SLED investigates and sends the results to the solicitor’s office for review.
The first deputy to arrive after 3:30 a.m. Sunday was the one who shot the suspect, an earlier release said. The unidentified deputy fired two shots at the man who police say charged him with a metal pipe. The new report says police used a Taser as well, but it does not say when or by whom.
Several backup deputies were also on the scene along with Bluffton Police officers, the report says.
The man is being treated at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah. As of Thursday, “the suspect remains in the hospital receiving care for his injuries,” according to Tommy Crosby, information officer for SLED.
As of Thursday, the wounded man has not been charged.
The Bluffton Police Department and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office declined to give more information so as not to interfere with SLED’s investigation.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
