[BigNoLove]

Happened in Greenville County, South Carolina. Apparently the suspect was armed.

[kellyhound]

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office released body-camera footage in an incident briefing 45 days after deputies shot and killed M C, 26, who they said pulled out a gun during an arrest.

"After a stringent review, our office has determined that C's actions led to the deputies taking the necessary force that unfortunately led to his death," Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said.

An investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division is active, Audrey Brown with the agency's Freedom of Information Office said Tuesday morning.

Lt. Ryan Flood, Greenville County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, declined to comment and referred to the Sheriff's Office's video.

The briefing posted online begins as deputies on Saturday, July 11, searched for M.C as they tried to serve arrest warrants. He had fled a traffic stop earlier that day and was later found on Long Forest Drive, a residential road near Old Buncombe Road where his grandparents live.

Sheriff's Office Capt. Tim Brown said he had active warrants stemming from incidents on June 27 and July 10, 2020. He was wanted for failure to stop for blue lights, reckless driving, resisting arrest and interfering with police, Brown said.

Body-camera footage from three deputies at the scene shows them jumping out from the back of a van as he runs out of a wooded area along the road. As he is running away, deputies spot a firearm in his right hand and a cellphone in his left hand, according to the briefing.

Deputies yell to him to show them his hands as he continues running away from them, the video shows.

"Let me see your (expletive) hands right now. Let me see your hands," one deputy yells as he steps out of the back of the van with his firearm pointing squarely at him.

About three seconds pass before the first shot is fired.

Multiple shots are heard in the video, and he falls to the ground on his stomach. A handgun is seen lying on the ground.

Of the seven deputies on scene, five fired at him. The other two did not, according to the briefing. The Greenville County Sheriff's Office has not released the names of the deputies who were on the scene.

Flood told the deputies' identities are usually not released until after SLED investigations are concluded.

'I'm not going to jail'

Living just a few houses down from where he was shot, Carey Reese, M.C's grandfather, said he relives the moment every day.

“On Saturday, I went to run. It had been five weeks. I stopped where he laid. You can tell where he laid at, and I just talked to him. I just talked to him,” said Reese. “I go by that place every day. I can’t afford to buy a new house and start a new life somewhere else."

Reese said there could have been a different outcome that day. He said he felt the deputies involved were overly aggressive and used excessive force. They came to serve a failure-to-stop arrest warrant and were told he might have a gun.

When deputies showed up to Reese's home, they questioned him about his location, and Reese told them he didn't know where he had gone. While deputies were there with Reese, M.C. called Reese's cellphone. A deputy told him to answer it, and he complied.

“Where are you?” Reese had said to him.

He wouldn’t give out his location but said, “Oh, I’m not going to jail. They’ll have to kill me,” according to his grandfather.

Reese said he's not sure why he decided to run.

“That hurts me. If I had known he was going to make that comment that somebody was going to hear I would have told him I’m not going to answer it,” Reese said.

He said he feared the comment gave deputies an assumption lethal force would be necessary.

"M.C had a mouth," Reese said.

The next three phone calls Reese never answered.

“I could just kick myself. I didn’t talk to him. That would have been the last chance I could have talked to him,” Reese said.

Deputies came with rifles and K9s and spent hours searching for him before his girlfriend agreed to try to talk him out from hiding. Deputies used his girlfriend to lure him out of a woodline while she was in a separate vehicle. When he appeared, deputies told the girlfriend to drive away while deputies drove up to him and got out of the van, Reese said.

The video briefing does not address the girlfriend's interactions with deputies or the immediate events leading up to finding M.C.

The gunshots sounded like a strand of fireworks, Reese said. He could hear them clearly from his home a few houses away.

"This was a military op that they set up, they planned, and they knew what they wanted to do," Reese said. "Why do you put people In there with rifles and stuff and that kind of firepower for a 130-pound boy?"

Reese told he is also upset that the Sheriff's Office did not grant family members the opportunity to see the video before posting it publicly.

He said what the video briefing does not show is how aggressive the deputies were to him at his home and in the roughly five hours leading up to them actually finding him.

He said he believes the deputies were already agitated over how long it was taking to track him down.

"As far as the number of shots they did after he was down, why have to shoot a boy less than 130 pounds running away who was not turning his body to try to fire back? ... He wasn't a threat," Reese said.

The Sheriff's Office's internal investigation showed that none of the deputies involved had violated any of the agency's policies, Brown said in the briefing.

"It’s just so upsetting," Reese said. "I hope that SLED will continue their investigation and will do the right thing. As far as I'm concerned, Greenville didn’t do the right thing."

'A loving child'

M.C. had two children, 4-year-old Hunter and 2-year-old Tate. Reese said he loved his boys, and he loved his family.

"If he and I got into an argument about something, before he left he was always going to say, 'Papa, I love you,'" Reese said. "he was a loving child."

Reese said M.C got into "mischief" from time to time. and had made some bad choices. He worked as a mechanic and made money doing odd jobs like repairing roofs. He had a hard time working for a boss, so he enjoyed jobs he could do himself, Reese said.

Growing up, he rode bikes and electric-powered toy vehicles and worked on cars. His father raced at the Greenville-Pickens Motor Speedway on the weekends when M.C would stay with Reese.

He was working on improving some of his relationships, Reese said.

"Things were looking better. We had a good relationship, but I don’t have a chance now," Reese said. "He had issues and hopefully he’d overcome those issues in a few years."

[skich]

Is it me, or do Sheriffs deputies, or whatever that thing is, are more Rambo than regular police. Why is that?

[OhJstFkOffAlrdy]

Originally Posted by skich ↗

Is it me, or do Sheriffs deputies, or whatever that thing is, are more Rambo than regular police. Why is that?

That's a good question. My guess would be that they are required to operate far beyond city limits and backup. So they have to be more prepared to do their job without expecting backup to get there in time.

I'd really love to know what homeboy was running for in the first place. What kind of time was he looking at that he'd be all "I'm not going to jail, they'll have to kill me" despite having two kids aged 2 and 4?

[bike1941]

I think we need to riot now, white man killed, white man killed, lets go riot and rob store owners....

[Synapse14]

That was pretty brutal. One guy and a gun, 7 officers, 5 of which fired multiple times at him. A bit overkill and I usually side with the police... But these cops seemed ready to gun him down.

[theblindguidedog]

That was an execution.