Walterboro Police Department Officers and deputies with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office responded to a disturbance in the parking lot of a Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant on Sniders Highway. The shooting happened outside the restaurant in Walterboro where deputies were called to help Walterboro Police respond to a person who was actively vandalizing vehicles by slashing tires and breaking windows, Detective Laura Rutland said.
Witnesses told investigators that they tried to approach the man but that he was armed with a knife.
When a Colleton County deputy attempted to engage with the man, he refused to drop the knife and then attacked the deputy, Rutland said.
The deputy fired his weapon, killing the man.
The Colleton County Coroner’s Office has identified the deceased as John Joseph Horan, V (32) of Norwich, Connecticut No law enforcement officers were injured. SLED was requested to investigate by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is investigating the officer involved shooting and in a press release stated, “This is an ongoing investigation and as such, no other information about the case will be disclosed by SLED at this time.
SLED conducts law enforcement officer involved shooting (OIS) investigations at the request of the agency involved in the incident or the agency with jurisdiction. When requested to investigate an OIS, SLED’s goal is to conduct a thorough independent criminal investigation as timely as is possible under the circumstances. SLED agents will conduct interviews with all potential witnesses in this matter. Further, SLED will collect all relevant evidence and will forensically test such evidence as needed. Information gathered in the SLED investigation of the incident will be summarized in a case file report to be submitted to prosecutors.
The incident in Colleton County was the 36th officer involved shooting in South Carolina in 2024. This is the 1st officer involved shooting for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office this year.
In 2023, there were 43 officer involved shootings in South Carolina. The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office had no officer involved shootings last year.”
