Florence County hostage situation ends with man dead

PAMPLICO — A two-hour hostage situation ended Monday morning after Florence County Sheriff’s Office SWAT deputies shot and killed the suspect and rescued the 13-year-old boy being held captive, Sheriff Kenney Boone said.

Thomas John Dick, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering an undisclosed number of gunshot wounds, Florence County Coroner M.G. “Bubba” Matthews said.

The boy is safe and in the custody of his mother, whom Boone said was Dick’s girlfriend.

A relative to the boy who was at the scene said Monday was the boy’s 13th birthday.

Dick kidnapped the boy at about 9 a.m. from his girlfriend’s house at 1138 Boling Road, Boone said.

Boone wouldn't say what kind of weapon Dick had in his possession.

Dick showed up at his girlfriend’s workplace Monday morning before the incident, Boone said, and she gave him the keys to her car.

Dick then drove his girlfriend’s car to her home in Pamplico and barricaded himself inside with the boy, Boone said.

“He was going to hurt that child,” Boone said. “And we were totally responsible to make sure that child was safe.”

Shortly after 11 a.m., multiple loud noises, which sounded like gunshots, could be heard several hundred yards away from the house.

The loud noises came from flashbangs, diversion devices used by SWAT deputies while making their entry into the house after Dick threatened the boy, Boone said.

Dick made comments during negotiations that he wouldn’t go to jail, and deputies believed he intended to hurt the boy, Boone said.

“Our only objective was to make sure this hostage was safe,” Boone said. “During the negotiation process, in a moment’s notice we had to make a decision.”

Teddy Horne, who said he is the boy’s great-uncle, showed up at the scene after receiving a call from his nephew, the boy’s father.

Horne said the boy’s father lives in Florence, but was in Texas on business Monday.

The boy’s mother and stepmother were outside the home when deputies intervened, Horne said.

The boy’s stepmother told Horne she saw deputies bring the boy out of the house. She told Horne the boy had blood on him, but the blood was believed to be from the suspect.

Horne said he fears what the boy experienced on his birthday will stay with him forever.

“It’s one he’ll never forget,” Horne said. “I wish he could forget it, but I’m afraid (he won’t).”

Lynn Schaeffer, who lives around the corner from the home where the kidnapping occurred, immediately went outside after hearing what she thought were gunshots.

“I was inside my house and I heard some loud booms like fireworks going off, so my granddaughter and I come running out to make sure our horses were OK,” she said. “And when we got over by the pasture we could see smoke every time they would let something off.”

Dick was arrested in June after a domestic dispute in Hendersonville, N.C., during which he severely beat his girlfriend, Boone said.

The charges Dick faced from that incident include first-degree kidnapping, communicating threats and assault inflicting serious injury, among others, Boone said.

A criminal history report obtained from the State Law Enforcement Division shows Dick has been arrested several times in South Carolina, including a charge that was eventually dropped for assault and battery with intent to kill in 1993.

Matthews said an autopsy will be performed on Dick’s body Tuesday.