New info about man killed in road-rage officer-involved shootout in Hardeeville
A week after a road rage incident that ended in a fatal shootout with Jasper County police, officials say the South Carolina man’s death may have been caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Calaab Heath Kirby, 33, of Union, was pronounced dead at 8 a.m. May 1 on Brooks Willis Drive, according to Jasper County Coroner Willie P. Aiken III. The investigation had closed Exit 8 off I-95 for most of a day.
The case is pending further investigation, but Aiken is investigating Kirby’s death as a suicide. The position and angle of the man’s multiple gunshot wounds indicate self-inflicted gunshots, he said, adding that several wounds could have resulted from a single bullet.
An autopsy was performed May 3, Aiken said.
One Sheriff’s Office deputy and three Hardeeville officers involved in the shootout were put on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing.
Hardeeville and Jasper County police called on SLED to investigate, which is standard practice to prevent bias after officer-involved shootings, said Chief Jeff Crosby of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.
Kirby was a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army, having served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, according to his obituary.
Hardeeville officers received a 911 call around 4:15 a.m. May 1 about a road rage incident in which an “armed and aggressive driver” shot another vehicle multiple times on U.S. 278, according to a May 2 press release from SLED. Police do not know how the disagreement began.
Locating the suspect’s car at a nearby gas station, police chased the driver, who was later identified as Kirby, onto Brooks Willis Drive, where his car struck a barricade and stopped, Hardeeville Police Chief Sam Woodward said. From there, officers exchanged gunfire with the man.
Woodward, Crosby and SLED spokesperson Renée Wunderlich would not say how many rounds were fired by officers. Woodward would not specify whether police or Kirby fired the first shot.
Police do not know why Kirby was in Hardeeville that morning, but Woodward said the man was traveling upstate back to Union when the road rage incident unfolded.
Two Hardeeville officers exchanged gunfire with Kirby, Woodward said. A third officer on the scene was a supervisor.
Woodward and Crosby would not name the officers who have been placed on leave.
Woodward offered his condolences to Kirby’s family.
“We’re all heartbroken about it,” he said.
The May 1 incident is the first officer-involved shooting in 2023 for the Hardeeville Police Department and Jasper County Sheriff’s Office. Neither department had an officer-involved shooting in 2022, according to SLED.
