SC deputy shot; suspect found dead inside home

Kimber Gist was alone on patrol early Friday when a suspicious vehicle behind a Red Bank Road shopping center caught her eye. Chief Deputy Mike Cochran says she is in stable condition at Trident Hospital.

The female deputy, whose name has not been released, was called to check on a suspicious vehicle behind a closed grocery store just after midnight.

Around 12:38 a.m., Gist reported that one person was in custody before a fight allegedly began, according to the sheriff’s office.

Stancie Rhodes, the trauma surgeon who worked on Gist, said during the news conference that a bulletproof vest the deputy was wearing likely saved her life.

The sheriff’s office has not identified the accused shooter, but law enforcement agencies had located and were in an armed standoff with the suspect at a home off of Durant Avenue in North Charleston, according to the North Charleston Police Department. Three other people were able to get out of the home. Officials said he was holed up in the home, injured and bleeding, when officers first responded.

The man whom deputies alleged shot her, however, was found dead around 6:30 a.m. after a standoff with police at his North Charleston home that lasted five hours. She was wearing body armor at the time of the shooting but the shots hit her below the armor. She said she was awakened early this morning when she heard yelling. The radio then lost contact with the deputy.

Gist has been with the department for two and a half years.

Hostage negotiators were talking with the suspect in an attempt to convince him to surrender peacefully, Pryor said.

When we asked Lewis if he planned on asking County Council for the money to add more deputies, he said, “Sure”.

“We do get a number of gunfire calls from the apartment complexes in that area”.

Lewis said law enforcement officers rely on their training and said he believes Gist survived the shooting because she relied on her training.

“I think we are seeing a trend in society that folks are becoming more violent with law enforcement”, Lewis said.