’No way to de-escalate that situation’: Witness describes fatal Horry County police shooting
Horry County police had just arrived at Amberwood Court on Wednesday evening when a man carrying a rifle bag approached, neighbor Richard Gould said.
“He yelled at them, ‘Bring it,’” Gould said, his voice shook as he recounted the night.
Gould ran back into his home and yelled for his wife with their newborn and his 13-year-old to get on the floor. Gould pleaded with 911 dispatchers on the phone to send more officers, because the cops there were under-manned.
“Then I heard the rifle shots. Then I heard the pistol shots,” Gould said. “Then I heard quiet.”
Leading up to the shooting
It was a joyous evening for Gould and his family as they celebrated his sister-in-law’s birthday and a rare night off work for his wife. The family had just finished dinner and Gould was relaxing in the bedroom until a loud crash startled him.
“At first I didn’t realize it was the door,” Gould said. “I thought someone fell over something in my house, like the hutch fell over or something.”
That is when Gould said his wife said someone was at their home.
Gould went to his front door to see his neighbor from across the street. The two had been cordial to each other in the past but did not know each other well. There had been no problems between the neighbors before Wednesday. Gould said his neighbor was intoxicated as he banged on the door.
When Gould opened the door, the neighbor had his fist clenched and said he just had two friends die. Gould said he then asked what happened and the neighbor became aggressive. The neighbor raised his fist like he was going to throw a punch.
“My wife is grabbing my hand telling me to get inside the house, just slam the door,” Gould recalled a few hours later in a phone conversation with The Sun News. “As I’m trying to close the door, he’s trying to force his way in. I close the door and he’s smashing the door.
“Like, if we weren’t on the other side of the door holding it, the door would have bust open.”
That is when the neighbor went across the street and started banging on another neighbor’s house. He then went down the block screaming.
That is when he came out with the rifle bag.
Officers shoot suspect
Gould said police came from around the corner and parked their cruisers as the neighbor held the rifle bag. The suspect removed the rifle and yelled at the officers. Gould added he shot out the back window of a cruiser.
“There was no way to de-escalate that situation,” Gould said.
Horry County police have not released many details about the 8:15 p.m. shooting on Amberwood Court, other than confirming officers shot a person. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirmed Thursday morning the suspect died in the shooting. He has not been named by the Horry County Coroner’s Office.
No Horry County officers were shot in the incident.
Cruisers blocked off Amberwood Court at Dick Pond Road around 11 p.m. as they investigated the shooting. SLED was called in to help in the investigation, which is standard protocol.
In police radio traffic, a few popping sounds can be heard in the background a moment before officers call out “shots fired!”
Gould said he and his family were on the floor when they heard the exchange of gunfire.
“I pretty much knew what happened at that point,” he said. “I dunno man, I felt like I was in some war-torn country. I felt like I was in the middle of a war zone.”
Gould went to the door while telling his family to stay on the ground. That is when he saw the shaken police officers and asked whether they were OK.
“If they had shown up five minutes later, I probably wouldn’t be having this phone call,” Gould said.
Hours after the shooting, Gould struggled with the experience, fighting back sniffles as he detailed the event. He said he was still shaken, his stomach was in knots and he didn’t expect to sleep much.
He posted a video of the shooting’s aftermath on Facebook, which had hundreds of shares. He said he wanted to post the video to help quell some of those calling to defund the police. He had little doubt the officers saved his family’s lives.
“I firmly believe if they hadn’t shown up,” Gould said, “yeah, we might have been killed.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 10:17 AM.
