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When the suspect Joel Burt Keenan raised both of his pistols and pointed them at Aiken County Sheriffs Deputy Sylvester Young, Jr., he reactively fired one fatal shot.

He presented an obvious threat to my life and the lives of the by-standers in the immediate area, Young said in a statement. To defend my life and the lives of others, I engaged (Keenan) by firing my pistol.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division released their investigation documents on the 2016 officer-involved shooting involving Deputy Young, who has recently been put on administrative leave again this year for his second officer-involved shooting.

Young was recently put on administrative leave for a second time after he shot suspect Chanden Micah Emory in the arm on March 6.

However, Emory did not die in the shooting.

Emory, 23, of the 400 block of Edisto Drive in North Augusta, is charged with attempted murder, assault and battery first degree, failure to stop for blue lights first offense and two counts of manufacture, possession of other substance in Schedule I, II, III or flunitrazepam or ANA, according to jail records.

Emory was briefly hospitalized before being released and extradited to Aiken County.

Young was first put on leave following the officer-involved shooting on Nov. 6, 2016. That night on the 200 block of Dean Drive he fired the fatal shot that killed 43-year-old Joel Burt Keenan, of New Ellenton.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has now released all the documents involved in that officer-involved shooting, including the 911 calls, dash-cam footage and crime scene photos.

The dash-cam footage shows Young is the first deputy to pull up to the scene on Dean Drive, where you suddenly see a group of bystanders gesturing for him to stop and pointing. Young then parks the car in front of a bush for the remainder of the footage.

SLEDs crime scene investigation summary states several deputies, including Young, arrived to 209 Dean Drive in Beech Island following several 911 calls referencing an armed man acting erratically and threatening people.

However, before Keenan was reported causing a disturbance on Dean Drive, he was spotted with a gun nearby at the Gulf gas station on Pine Log Road.

Just before 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, a 27-year-old Beech Island man was pumping gas at the Gulf station with his kids strapped in their car seats.

He was the first to call 911 about a white male threatening to shoot him with a gun.

In audio released by SLED, the man tells dispatch, "something bad's about to go down at the Gulf station on Pine Log and Storm Branch Road. Somebody's about to get shot or rob the store."

The man explains to the dispatcher that he was pumping gas into his truck, when Keenan stepped out of his 25-foot white recreational vehicle, or RV, pointed a .380 at me and said, 'Get out of here right now and take your kids with you. ... I'm telling you you got one chance to get out of here.'

The caller said Keenan pointed his pistol to his head, so he tried to step aside to distance Keenan from his kids, according to the 911 call.

I wasnt going to try to get into my truck and drive because my kids seats were literally right there facing him - so I just went straight up to my window to get his attention off my truck where my children are, the caller said.

Shortly after the first 911 call, Aiken County dispatch started receiving calls from residents on and around Dean Drive saying Keenan was parked outside a trailer with a gun.

One caller said he didn't know Keenan, but it appeared he was "drunk or something."

Dispatch received a call from a woman, barely audible in 911 tapes, who whispered, "Please come hurry. He's got a gun. ... Please hurry."

Prior to deputies arrival to Deans Drive, Keenans erratic behavior caused him to be confronted by nearby neighbors one of the neighbors reportedly fired a warning shot into the air, but did not hit Keenan, according to the SLED crime scene summary.

The summary states that during the confrontation between Keenan and the neighbor with a gun, Keenan somehow managed to take the gun from the man, which left him in possession of two weapons when police arrived on the scene.

SLED released Youngs voluntary statement about the shooting and what happened next.

Once I got out of my patrol vehicle, I looked to my left, which was the direction in which the group of people I first encountered driving up to the scene were pointing almost immediately, I saw a male subject walking toward me, Young said. I then saw that the male subject was carrying a black-colored pistol in one hand and chrome-colored pistol in his other hand.

Young said in the statement that as soon as he noticed Keenan was armed, he immediately drew (his) service weapon and pointed it at Keenan, giving him a loud verbal directive to stop walking and drop his weapons.

(Keenan) immediately stopped walking toward me, but he did not drop either of his weapons, Young said in the statement. Using my body microphone, I then advised dispatch that I had an armed subject refusing to drop his weapons.

Young said no other fellow deputies had arrived to the scene at this point. He said he yelled several more times at Keenan to drop his weapons, but he did not.

Keenan then claimed to be a federal agent and explained to Young that he wasnt going to drop his weapons, Young said.

Young fired one round from his service weapon a few moments later, striking Keenan in the chest. Keenan was pronounced dead at the scene.

A blood test was given during Keenans autopsy, which showed he had a significant amount of methamphetamine in his system when he was shot, according to SLEDs forensic records.

Police and court records showed Keenan had been in and out of the court system dating back to 1991.

In the North Augusta incident on Mar. 3, deputies responded to Clearmont Drive in North Augusta following a call about a suspicious vehicle in a vacant and secured location, according to the incident report.

Upon arrival, deputies reported observing Emory and two other individuals sitting inside the vehicle, the report stated.

Deputies went to speak with Emory who was in the drivers seat, when he suddenly put the vehicle in reverse, according to the report.

Emory then accelerated forward, striking Deputy Joel Knight with the car, the report states.

Young then discharged two bullets into the vehicle, hitting Emory in his forearm, according to the report.

Emory then fled at a high rate of speed and the two deputies pursued him until he stopped on Edgefield Road, according to the report.

EMS was called to the scene and they took Emory and Knight to an Augusta hospital.

Abdullah said Knight is no longer in the hospital, but he has not yet returned to work.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is also investigating this officer-involved shooting.

See the article here:
SLED releases reports from 2016 officer-involved shooting - Aiken Standard