Suspect dead, officer wounded in LEC shooting

A man who opened fire on the locked doors of the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center late Monday night is dead after a gun battle in the parking lot of the LEC with an officer who was responding to a call for backup, authorities said.

The officer is in serious condition after being shot three times, twice in the side and once in the hand, said interim Greenville Police Chief Mike Gambrell.

The gunman, whose identity has not been released, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a confrontation outside with the officer, said Greenville Police Chief Mike Gambrell.

The officer was the first to arrive after calls for backup at about 10:30 p.m., Gambrell said. He confronted the gunman, who fired at least three shots that hit the officer in the side and forearm, Gambrell said.

He said the officer, a five-year veteran, fired once and was at the hospital early Tuesday in serious condition.

What purpose the gunman, who was armed with a shotgun and a 9mm pistol, had in coming to the Law Enforcement Center is unclear, but investigators believe he may be a suspect in a homicide that less than an hour earlier at 18 Augusta Court, Gambrell said.

Officers had responded to a shooting that left one man dead at a residence there, he said.

Few details were available about the homicide that Gambrell described as family-related. The victim's name wasn't available.

The State Law Enforcement Division was called and could be seen collecting evidence just after midnight.

Roads leading to the Law Enforcement Center were cordoned off with crime scene tape while patrol cars lined Interstate 385 with blue lights flashing three hours after the shooting.