Greenville County Sheriff's Office provides details of fatal shooting of 81-year-old man
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office released additional information Sunday on a deadly December shooting involving deputies and an 81-year-old man.
The GCSO released a Critical Incident Community Briefing on Feb. 13 that included body camera footage from three officers and the 911 emergency communications that led to the incident.
On Dec. 27, GCSO shot and killed Walter McDonald III, 81, outside of his residence at 30 Pequot Dr. in Greenville.
According to the briefing, deputies arrived at McDonald’s residence a little before 5:30 p.m. after a Greenville County Emergency Communications call. The initial call to 911 was made by McDonald.
"My wife would like to speak with you guys. She would like to talk about an issue," McDonald said. "Do not come with blue lights and ambulance and bullshit. Just show up and help her."
He then put his wife on the phone to speak with dispatchers. Dispatchers ask if she has an emergency and she responds, "I don’t think it’s an emergency."
As the call proceeded, McDonald’s wife, who was not named in the video, eventually told dispatchers that McDonald was making her feel uncomfortable. She said she thought McDonald was having an affair and when she confronted him, he got "kind of aggressive." She told dispatchers that she did not know if McDonald was "going to try to do anything" or not.
When the dispatcher asked if anybody had any weapons, McDonald's wife responded saying they have a house full of weapons, but when asked if McDonald had a weapon on him at that moment she responded, "not that I know of." The dispatcher then told her to move to a safe place.
According to body camera footage, deputies arrived at the scene where they met and spoke with McDonald’s wife who had been outside sitting in her car. Officers asked her if any weapons were taken out and the wife said no. Minutes later, officers made their way inside the home to speak with McDonald.
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As deputies went inside the house, a deputy in the video can be heard saying that McDonald had a gun, though he can’t be seen with a weapon on the footage. Deputies commanded McDonald to drop the weapon. McDonald could be heard in the video saying that he does not have the gun pointed at them. As the deputies and McDonald were exchanging words, McDonald’s wife is heard saying "they are not here to shoot you." McDonald responds, "shut up, you’re interfering."
After the exchange, deputies exit the home.
Lt. Ryan Flood, who spoke on behalf of the GCSO during the video, said deputies then escorted McDonald’s wife to a patrol car and drove her away from the residence.
The briefing then shows portions of body camera footage during the incident. During the first portion shown, Flood said deputies took cover and began to negotiate with McDonald to leave his residence unarmed. McDonald opened the front door armed with a firearm, Flood said.
In footage marked around 5:41 p.m., deputies are heard commanding him to come outside and put his hands up. During the interaction, one deputy says that McDonald still had his weapon in his hand, though the weapon isn’t seen on the footage. McDonald can be seen in the video exiting the front door of his home and shouting at the deputies before going back inside.
The next scene in the video shows deputies at the backside of the residence.
Prior to showing the body camera footage, Flood said while at the back, deputies observed "an armed McDonald" appear at the back gate and gave commands for him to put the gun down. According to Flood, McDonald pointed his firearm at deputies.
"Although it is unclear at this time in the investigation whether McDonald shot, deputies fired at McDonald due to the immediate threat to their lives," Flood said.
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In footage taken at 5:43 p.m., McDonald appears to be armed behind the back gate of the fence, although he is hard to spot. Officers are heard asking McDonald to put the gun down.
Moments later, deputies can be heard firing several rounds for roughly 26 seconds.
The briefing shows other angles from other officers at the scene. The second body worn camera footage did not appear to show much, but the third showed deputies arresting an already shot McDonald and calling for a medic at 5:50 p.m. The final piece of footage also showed a 1911 .45 caliber handgun that McDonald had in his possession during the incident. Officers also found two magazines on the scene and collected them as evidence.
Greenville County medics attempted to apply first-aid to McDonald, however shortly after the shooting the Greenville County Coroner's Office pronounced McDonald deceased at 5:57 p.m., Flood said. McDonald's cause of death was from multiple gunshot wounds
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office are still investigating the incident to determine if actions by the GCSO deputies involved in the gunfire were within the scope of the law.
According to Sheriff Hobart Lewis, the officers involved were cleared after an internal review by the GCSO Office of Professional Standards. According to preliminary reports from the sheriff's office, four deputies fired their weapons, and each were placed on paid administrative leave as office protocol.
"The Office of Professional Standards determined the deputies' actions were justified to use deadly force according to the sheriff's office use force policy," Lewis said.
Some officers placed on leave are going back on duty while others have been reintegrated, according to an email from Flood to the Greenville News Monday.
Terry Benjamin II covers public safety and breaking news for The Greenville News and can be reached at tbenjamin@gannett.com or on X @Terrybenji2.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville Sheriff's Office shares details of fatal December shooting
