A 37-year-old Upstate man was shot and killed in Belton, South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon as deputies with the Anderson County sheriff’s office were attempting to serve a warrant for his arrest.
The shooting occurred at around 4:45 p.m. EDT on the 900 block of Simpson Road in Belton – a town of around 4,400 located roughly 25 miles south of Greenville, S.C.
According to our sources, the deceased suspect – Thomas Michael Reynolds – was allegedly “terrorizing the neighborhood” and had recently attempted to “attack a female neighbor.” Deputies were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for assault and battery against Reynolds related to that alleged assault at the time of the shooting.
Initially armed with a butcher’s knife, Reynolds is alleged to have barricaded himself inside a Simpson Road residence armed with a long gun when two Anderson deputies – both white males – arrived to serve the warrant.
(Click to view)
(Via: Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)
A volatile standoff ensued, with the deputies attempting to convince Reynolds to surrender peacefully.
He did not …
Instead, according to police, he “engaged” the officers – resulting in at least one of them opening fire and mortally wounding him.
“If you come at us with a weapon or a firearm, you can pretty much expect what’s going to happen,” Anderson sheriff Chad McBride told local television station Fox Carolina.
As a matter of protocol, the investigation into this shooting – the 31st officer-involved shooting in the Palmetto State this year – will be handled by agents of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
-FITSNews
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