BEECH ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina deputy shot and killed a suspect who had threatened to kill someone over the weekend, authorities said.
Deputies were called shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday to a gas station in Beech Island about a man with a gun who was threatening to shoot someone pumping gas, an Aiken County sheriff’s report said.
By the time deputies arrived, the suspect had left in a recreational vehicle, Capt. Eric Abdullah said in a news release.
A short time later, a homeowner in Beech Island called about a man in an RV with a handgun who threatened to shoot him.
Deputies arrived and found “the suspect in the driveway brandishing weapons,” Abdullah said.
Deputy Sylvester Young reported that the suspect had two guns and refused several times to drop the weapons. When the man raised the guns, Young fired one shot, hitting the suspect in the chest.
Coroner Tim Carlton said in a statement Monday morning that the suspect was Joel B. Keenan, 43, of New Ellenton. An autopsy was planned Monday in Newberry, the coroner said.
Young has been placed on leave while the State Law Enforcement Division investigates the shooting, Abdullah said. Young has been with the department since December 2014.
Keenan was white and the deputy is black, Abdullah and SLED spokesman Thom Berry said.
Beech Island is about 65 miles southwest of Columbia near the South Carolina-Georgia state line.
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