West Columbia, SC 01/17/2022 (Paul Kirby) – Officers with the West Columbia Police Division (WCPD), together with regulation enforcement personnel from companion companies, have been coping with a suspect they are saying has barricaded himself in a room on the Hilton Gardens Inn within the metropolis Tuesday afternoon. Because the day and the state of affairs progressed, commanders from West Columbia have needed to make some tough however essential selections to guard the general public, their officers, and the suspect who has reportedly fired his weapon in some unspecified time in the future throughout this standoff.
Police incident commanders first made the choice to shut McSwain Drive at Sundown Boulevard early on. The 2 roads intersect close to the I-26 on and off ramps to Sundown Boulevard near the Denny’s restaurant. Closing this intersection actually affected site visitors nonetheless, when officers contemplate the protection of everybody within the space, it made that call a lot simpler to make.
Later, on the request of the WCPD, officers from Lexington Medical Heart’s Police Division, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Division, and the SC Freeway Patrol labored with the WCPD command workers to shut Sundown Boulevard from the doorway of LMC to Chris Drive on the McDonald’s and Salsarita. Because the state of affairs progressed, the choice was then made to shut a piece of I-26 that runs previous the hospital, the resort, and the armed man. Troopers assisted considerably with this closure as WCPD proceed to work to carry the state of affairs on the resort with the gunman underneath management.
At 3:45 p.m., West Columbia was utilizing their social media pages to request that motorist and the general public keep away from that space utterly if attainable. The SCDOT, together with troopers and different companies, have arrange detours and are utilizing the big interstate message boards, transportable boards, cones, and different site visitors units to direct vacationers who could have inadvertently been entangled in site visitors by the closures.
That is an ongoing state of affairs and can take extra time to carry it to a passable and secure conclusion. It stays to be seen if the gunman will permit this to occur or if he’ll finally drive the police’s hand. Please proceed to examine for updates because the afternoon and night progresses.
