No charges for SC 14-year-old who shot and killed knife-wielding neighbor, sheriff says

A South Carolina teen who shot a neighbor who was chasing with a knife will not be charged because the killing appears to be justified, Lancaster County sheriff officials said Tuesday.

The fatal shooting happened before 7 p.m. on May 2 on Hillcrest Avenue in Lancaster. Neither the 14-year-old male who fired the gun nor the 29-year-old man who died has been identified.

The sheriff investigation showed the knife-wielding man was chasing the teen who sought refuge in a truck, deputies said. The teen was trying to shut and lock the truck door when he fired a gun that was in the truck, according to deputies.

The dead man was found with the knife next to the truck, sheriff’s office spokesman Doug Barfield said Tuesday. Lancaster County prosecutors from the 6th Circuit Solicitor’s Office also reviewed the case.

Both Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile and Barfield, who is a former prosecutor, said the shooting appears to be justified and no charges have been filed against the 14-year-old.

“Barring some contrary information, we don’t anticipate any change in the case,” Barfield said. “At this point, it appears to be a justified homicide.”

The man shot and killed assaulted the teen’s brother, who’s also a juvenile, before the shooting and came on to the property uninvited several times that day, Faile said. Several witnesses were interviewed, Faile said.

Faile called the shooting “a tragic result from an unfortunate set of circumstances.”

The investigation remains ongoing, including reviews of an autopsy and other forensic testing.