By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Columbia, South Carolina, Police Officer Chris DeLong, 29, was shot and killed at Southeast Park on Saturday, the department’s first line-of-duty shooting death in more than 50 years.
- A second officer, David Dymock, was shot and injured but is in stable condition.
- The suspect, identified as Adam Dowdy, 33, of Prosperity, was also killed during the incident.
- The shooting followed a domestic disturbance call earlier that morning at a home about a mile from the park, where a woman told DeLong she had a restraining order against Dowdy.
- The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating; DeLong is survived by his wife and two young children.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Columbia police officer was shot and killed Saturday at Southeast Park, marking the department’s first line-of-duty shooting death in more than 50 years, according to Police Chief W.H. “Skip” Holbrook.
Officer Chris DeLong, 29, died after being shot at the park. A second officer, David Dymock, was also shot and injured but was listed in stable condition. The suspect, identified as Adam Dowdy, 33, of Prosperity, was killed during the incident as well.
“Our hearts are broken this evening,” Holbrook said at a news conference Saturday. “Together, under the worst circumstances you can possibly imagine, we’re deeply hurt.”
The shooting followed a domestic disturbance call earlier that morning. At around 9:40 a.m., DeLong was dispatched to a home in the 100 block of Holstein Lane, where a woman told him she had a restraining order against Dowdy and that he had been at the home causing a disturbance and destroying property. Dowdy left before officers arrived, after the woman called 911; she provided a description of him and his vehicle.
Shortly after 10:32 a.m., DeLong radioed dispatch that he had located a suspicious person and a vehicle matching Dowdy’s description at Southeast Park. Dymock arrived to back him up at 10:41 a.m. Four minutes later, Dymock radioed that both officers had been shot and that Dowdy was down, Holbrook said.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting. Holbrook said Dowdy had a lengthy criminal history with arrests in South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Georgia. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department assisted at the scene, which was secured by early afternoon.
DeLong had served with the Columbia Police Department for two years and is survived by his wife and two young children. The last Columbia officer killed in the line of duty was Lt. Philip George Schlatterer, on July 25, 1974.