Florence deputy shoots, kills suspect in nightclub shootout

FLORENCE — An early Friday morning fight that escalated into a shootout in a Florence night club parking lot ended with a Marion man killed by a Florence County sheriff’s deputy and a club security guard wounded.

Florence County Coroner M.G. “Bubba” Matthews identified the dead man as 20-year-old Deangelo Foxworth.

Deputies responded to Seekers on South Irby Street at 3:09 a.m. to reports of a disturbance with “multiple shots fired,” according to a sheriff’s office press release.

“A fight which began inside the club spilled out into the parking lot where multiple shots were fired from multiple handguns in several areas of the surrounding parking lot,” Capt. Mike Nunn said in the release. “After repeated commands from the deputy for the shooter to drop his weapon were ignored, the subject was shot by the deputy. This subject was transported by EMS to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead by (Florence County) Deputy Florence Coroner Don Reynolds.

“The bouncer was shot, the deputy confronted this individual who was armed and commanded him to drop his weapon, he did not and the officer did not have any other alternative,” said Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone.

The security guard was “shot in the parking lot by a patron and is being treated at an area hospital,” Nunn said in the release.

The owners of Seekers have agreed the club will not reopen until Wednesday, according to the release.

Sheriff Kenney Boone, at a press conference Wednesday, said he would like to see the club closed permanently as a public nuisance, in much the way a club in the Savannah Grove community was closed earlier this year.

In that case, a judge ruled earlier in may that KT’s Lounge, or KT’s Place on Ed James Road in Effingham, be leveled within 30 days. A mobile home, the residence of the club’s owners, was ordered moved or it too would be subject to destruction, according to a ruling issued by Circuit Court Judge Thomas A. Russo.

This is the second instance in the last month when a Florence County sheriff’s deputy has shot and killed a suspect.

It’s not clear if the same deputy was involved in both incidents.

On the night of May 9, deputies responding to a shooting on Lassie Street in Lake City located the shooting suspect, 30-year-old Adrian Devon Pressley of 50 Keeler Road, Nesmith, and were fired on by him, Nunn said.

Deputies returned fire, and Pressley was pronounced dead at the Airport Circle scene, Nunn said.

The name of the deputy who shot Pressley has not been released.

Pressley’s family members said the two victims in the first shooting included Pressley’s ex-girlfriend and a man who was in her home at the time.

“We have noticed a disturbing rise in the number of incidents of violent acts against police officers, not only nationwide, but locally also,” Boone said through the press release Friday morning.

“This is the second time in four weeks that one of our deputies has had to defend himself and others from a deadly confrontation with an armed subject. Something has to be done to reduce this level of violence,” he said.

“I think at this day and time you’ve probably got more suspects who are carrying handguns and have the opportunity to use this sort of violence against officers,” Boone said.

The sheriff’s office has asked the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to investigate, as is the procedure in an officer-involved shooting.

The deputy involved has been placed on paid administrative leave and is receiving counseling, Boone said at the press conference.