Police: Man found dead after shootout with SC cops tried to carjack Chester deputy’s car
A Lancaster man had shot at officers during a two-county chase Sunday and tried to carjack a deputy’s patrol car before the man was later found dead in a wooded area of Chester County, officials said.
Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker identified the dead man as Tre-Kedrian Tyquan White, 20, of Lancaster. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday, the coroner said.
White, found dead Sunday night in rural Chester County, had been shot, said Tommy Crosby, spokesman for the State Law Enforcement Division. It remains unclear if he was hit by a bullet from the weapon of a Chester County Sheriff’s deputy, Crosby said. Tinker did not release a cause of death but confirmed the man had been shot.
White pointed a gun when he tried to carjack a Chester County deputy in an unmarked patrol vehicle. That deputy shot at White, said Grant Suskin, spokesman for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident began before 5 p.m. when White fired a gun at Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies who arrived at a home for a reported domestic violence incident, Crosby said. Lancaster deputies did not return fire, Crosby said.
Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, said White fired a single shot toward a deputy. The bullet did not strike the deputy but hit the deputy’s patrol car.
The Lancaster deputy was not injured, officials said.
White then drove away in a Honda Accord as a second deputy arrived, police said.
Lancaster deputies chased White east on S.C. 200 into Chester County through Great Falls, Fort Lawn and Richburg, according to police.
White wrecked the car driving on S.C. 9, Crosby said. After the crash, White fired shots at pursuing officers, Crosby said.
“White stepped into the roadway of (S.C.) Highway 9 and flagged down a vehicle in an effort to carjack the driver,” Suskin said. “The driver happened to be an undercover Chester County Sheriff’s Office deputy responding to the incident, traveling in an unmarked vehicle.”
Suskin said White had a gun when he tried to force his way into the unmarked police vehicle.
“The deputy stopped the vehicle and White attempted to enter the passenger’s side of the vehicle, while pointing and presenting a firearm at the deputy,” Suskin said. “In response to White’s threat of lethal force, the deputy fired his weapon at White, who then fled into the wooded area.”
After a chase on foot into the woods near Lewisville High School, not far from Interstate 77, White was found dead, police said.
SLED forensic teams and investigators remained at several crime scenes Monday, Crosby said. SLED is handling the investigation because deputies from Lancaster County and Chester County were part of the officer-involved shooting.
The officer-involved shooting is the first in South Carolina in 2021, according to SLED and the S.C. Department of Public Safety. There were 49 officer involved shootings in the state in 2020, which tied the record for most in a single year, records show.
One of those 2020 incidents was in York County in September where police said a domestic violence suspect was shot by police after firing at responding deputies. That man survived and is in jail pending trial.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Police: Man found dead after shootout with SC cops tried to carjack Chester deputy’s car."
