Deputies from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office responded around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday to a report of a domestic disturbance at a home on Chandler Road near Highway 17 in the Awendaw area. A woman who had called 911 reported that her husband had made threats to harm himself and fired a gun inside the home.
Deputies arrived and got the woman and four children out of the home. Their initial attempts to reach the suspect were not successful. SWAT team members and crisis negotiators from the Sheriff’s Office responded. After further unsuccessful attempts to contact the suspect, the SWAT team fired chemical irritants into the home, but the subject remained barricaded inside. Deputies later spoke with him by phone and urged him to surrender.
After 8 a.m., the man walked out of the home and sat in an outside chair next to a handgun and an AK-47-style rifle. He refused deputies’ commands. A CCSO K-9 deputy released a dog, who pulled the man out of the chair and away from the firearms, allowing deputies to safely place the man into custody without serious harm to the suspect or deputies.
The suspect was transported to a hospital for evaluation and treatment but was not seriously injured. No other injuries were reported. He is expected to face charges of domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and four counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.
Sheriff Kristin Graziano gave K-9 Rex a bone for his efforts.
