Two Cayce police officers were shot. Now the man who opened fire is going to prison

A Midlands man who shot two Cayce Department of Public Safety officers is going to prison.

Eugene Jonathon James pleaded guilty to multiple crimes, including two counts of attempted murder, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Wednesday in a news release.

Tuesday at the Lexington County Courthouse, the 23-year-old Orangeburg resident was sentenced to 20 years behind bars by Judge Debra McCaslin, according to the release.

In 2018, James pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. At that time James was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, a sentence he will serve after completing his 20-year prison stint on state charges, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office said.

The charges stemmed from a May, 27, 2017, incident that involved a car chase and gunfire.

James was driving a stolen car that two Cayce Public Safety officers — Sgt. Evan Antley and Officer Roy Barr — saw speeding on Knox Abbott Drive around 12:30 a.m., according to the release. Although the officers attempted to make a traffic stop, the car kept going and a chase ensued, eventually crossing the Blossom Street bridge into Columbia, the Cayce Department of Public Safety previously said.

The pursuit continued through an area near the University of South Carolina’s campus before James turned onto a dead end at Gist Street, not far from Founders Park, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office said.

James jumped out of the stolen car and ran down a footpath near woods on the Riverwalk before jumping into the brush and waiting in the ditch for the officers to approach, according to the release.

He then “assumed a crouched position, which appeared to the officers to be lying in wait for them,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said.

After threatening to use his Taser to get James to comply, one of the officers heard gunshots and felt pain, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The officer had been shot in the chest and leg, and the second officer was shot in the leg, the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said.

Although both suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds from the stolen pistol James was shooting, both officers were able to return fire, according to the S.C. Attorney General’s Office. James was also wounded, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which led the investigation.

The wounded officers called for help, and the officers who then responded found James in the wood line with a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said.

The serial number on the gun had been burned in an attempt to obliterate it; however, authorities were able to restore the serial number and determine that the gun was stolen during the theft of a car in Orangeburg several days earlier, The State previously reported.

The car James was driving also had been reported stolen during a carjacking in Orangeburg before the shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said.

In addition to the attempted murder charges, James also pleaded guilty to failure to stop for blue lights, possession of a stolen pistol, possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent felony, possession of a stolen vehicle, and speeding, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office said.

His 20-year prison sentence was the result of a plea deal, according to the release.