A patron at the gun and knife show inside Columbia's Jamil Temple opened fire on a Lexington County deputy working security on Saturday, and the wounded deputy fired back and killed him. The deputy was taken into surgery and is in stable condition, and the Lexington County Sheriff's Office says there is no ongoing threat to the public.
Why it matters: the show's own rules ban loaded weapons inside — only on-duty police may carry loaded, and every other weapon must have its action secured. One man still got a shot off at the one person posted there to keep the show safe. For the families who walk into these shows, that deputy is the thin line, and on Saturday he held it after he was already hit.
The sheriff's office, in its own words: "There is no ongoing threat to the public associated with a shooting at Jamil Temple. Based on preliminary information, a patron at an event shot a Lexington County deputy who was working security. The deputy returned fire, fatally striking the suspect."
The show was the South Carolina Arms Collector Association's gun and knife show at the Jamil Temple in Columbia. What is not known yet is just as plain: the sheriff's office has released no names — not the deputy's, not the gunman's — and no motive for why a customer at a gun show turned his weapon on the deputy working its security.
The situation now: the deputy is recovering after surgery, the gunman is dead, and the investigation sits with the sheriff's office. The names and the motive are the next facts owed, and this story will be updated the moment officials release them.
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