Man in Socastee standoff said he ‘was going to kill them and himself’

The 22-year-old man who was engaged in a standoff with police on Christmas Eve said he was going to kill his father and himself, according to a police report.

The standoff occurred at a house on Willow Ridge Road in Socastee.

Police said the man had been arguing with his father and the person who called police, who was not identified, since midnight on Sunday. The person called police around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the incident report.

The person who called police said that the man had a rifle and that “they heard a gunshot come out of his window.”

The complainant and the man’s father were able to get out of the house by the time officers arrived, according to the report.

Police said they tried contacting the man using a patrol car intercom, sirens and phone calls to the house with a “negative response” from him.

That’s when the SWAT team was called in.

The SWAT team entered the house around 1 p.m. and detained the man.

He was placed in emergency protective custody and transported to a medical facility where he was admitted, the report says. He was not charged.

Horry County police spokesperson Krystal Dotson said subjects are typically not arrested when there are “medical or safety concerns for the person involved.”

Officers said they found a Marlin .22 caliber rifle, three .22 caliber shell casings and 14 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition in the man’s room.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Man in Socastee standoff said he ‘was going to kill them and himself’."