Bodycam Shows Shootout Between Greenville Co. Deputies And Suspect in Greer, South Carolina
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Greer, South Carolina — The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office released body camera video following an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of a man in Greer. On february 18th at around 5:00 p.m deputies working within a specialized warrants unit within the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office arrived at 11 Gibson Oaks Drive for the purpose of serving active arrest warrants on the suspect identified as 39-year-old William Clayton Blackwell. The arrest warrants were for second and third degree criminal sexual conduct, incest and child neglect. Because the vast majority of this unit’s duties, are operated in an undercover capacity, the faces of these deputies are blurred out throughout the video and their names are muted. When the first deputy arrived at the residence they observed Blackwell exit, the front of the mobile home.
Around this same time additional units arrived and as they did, Blackwell ran towards the rear of the residence at which time at least one deputy observed him armed with a pistol. For a brief period of time, deputies lost sight of the suspect as he ran to the back of the mobile home. Moments later the suspect was spotted again running toward the tree line at the rear of the residence, armed with a magazine fed rifle. Deputies on scene took cover and began giving loud verbal commands for Blackwell to drop the gun. Moments later, Blackwell fired a round and deputies saw him take a position with his rifle. At this time deputies moved up behind cover and continued providing loud verbal commands for Blackwell to drop his gun. Despite the commands Blackwell remained in a prone position, pointing his rifle directly at the deputies. Fearing for their safety, deputies fire at Blackwell ultimately striking him in the process.
For roughly 12 minutes, deputies remain behind cover and continue giving commands to the suspect, as his condition was still unclear at that time. Eventually a K9 and his handler moved in to ensure the suspect, no longer posed a threat before an additional team of deputies, secured the scene and rendered first aid to the suspect until EMS arrived at their location. Once the scene was secured, deputies provided first aid to the suspect until ems arrived on scene and transported him to the hospital where he was later pronounced deceased. Following the incident, investigators with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division were called to the scene and the suspect’s rifle was collected as evidence. At this point in the investigation, it has been determined that four out of the six deputies on scene fired at the suspect. The other two deputies did not fire their weapons.
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