Man crawls into attic, fires shotgun through wall during standoff, SC deputies say

INDIAN LAND, S.C. — A man was arrested late Monday night after a domestic incident turned into a standoff with Lancaster County deputies and state police.

Around 2 p.m. that day, deputies were called to a home along Dobys Bridge Road in Indian Land. It’s where Jeffrey Dale Kitchen, 38, lives with his mom and girlfriend, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies said Kitchen allegedly his girlfriend in the back several times during an argument. She wasn’t seriously hurt.

Kitchen told the victim to leave and she called her daughter to pick her up. That’s also when the incident was reported to law enforcement.

Deputies said by the time they arrived, Kitchen had locked himself inside his bedroom and wouldn’t leave it. He threatened to hurt deputies who started speaking with him to get him out of the room.

Investigators were told Kitchen owned knives, swords, axes, and perhaps a shotgun but they weren’t sure if he had any of those weapons in the bedroom. But authorities said as they tried to get him to surrender, he fired a shotgun through the wall and into the hallway where deputies were.

No one was hurt in the incident.

More law enforcement arrived at the home and a standoff ensued. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was able to get into the bedroom by breaching the door but Kitchen crawled into the attic from an access door in the bedroom.

Eventually, deputies used chemical agents in the attic, resulting in Kitchen’s surrender around 11 p.m. Monday.

Kitchen was taken into custody and will be booked into the Lancaster County jail. His charges will include third-degree domestic violence, two counts of attempted murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, and threatening the life of a public official. His bond has not yet been set.

“Calls like this are fluid and often stretch into hours like this one did,” Sheriff Barry Faile said in a statement. “We use our training and experience to make tactical plans, and sometimes those plans change as the circumstances change. We took our time and carefully and continuously evaluated the facts and were ultimately able to choose an effective tactic that brought this incident to an end with no serious injuries to anybody, including the suspect.”

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