Man killed by Spartanburg deputies during hostage situation identified, SLED investigating

The Spartanburg County Coroner's Office has identified a man shot and killed by Spartanburg County Sheriff's deputies early Friday morning in Boiling Springs.

Somchan Dan Somsanith, 42, was pronounced dead on the scene at 4:35 a.m., according to Jonathan Lawson, Chief Investigator with the coroner's office, in an email Friday evening.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division responded to the scene by request from the sheriff's office and is the primary investigative agency.

Lt. Kevin Bobo with the sheriff's office said deputies responded to a "disturbance with weapons call" on 155 Coldstream Dr. at 3:20 a.m. that resulted in a hostage situation in a press release sent Friday afternoon.

In the release, Bobo said deputies fired at a man, later identified as Somsanith, who was using a gun to hold a juvenile hostage.

Bobo said the deputies involved were not injured.

According to the release, a juvenile initially called 911, stating their father had a rifle and a shotgun and was threatening to shoot someone in the house, as well as himself. An adult male in the house verified the juvenile's account over the phone and claimed there were several other juveniles inside the residence, Bobo said.

After a perimeter was established around the residence, Bobo claimed attempts to call the suspect to surrender peacefully were unsuccessful, but the other adult male and all but one juvenile were able to escape by climbing out of a window.

"The suspect then started going in and out of the house while armed with a rifle and was also holding the remaining juvenile hostage," the statement said. "The suspect would alternate between pointing the gun at deputies, at the hostage and himself. He never complied with numerous verbal commands to drop his weapon; so deputies fired their weapons in defense of the hostage and themselves."

Bobo said the sheriff's office notified SLED, which is now the lead investigative agency. SLED public information officer, Renée Wunderlich, confirmed earlier Friday morning that the agency was responding.

In a Saturday afternoon press release, Wunderlich stated that an Inman Police Department officer also responded to the scene after the sheriff's office requested additional law enforcement assistance. Wunderlich confirmed that an armed male subject had barricaded himself inside the house another individual.

"During an interaction with the subject, deputies and the police officer fired their weapons. The subject was shot and died at the scene," Wunderlich said.

Zealina Jeter, who lives across the street from the residence where the shooting happened, said she woke up around 4 a.m. to gunshots. She said she dropped to the ground and told her children to do the same until she could find out what was happening.

She said she saw police officers running toward the house, a young child running down the driveway and a person being treated by paramedics.

Jeter said she did not observe any interactions between officers and other parties prior to waking up to the gunshots. She added that the area is usually calm.

"It is a quiet neighborhood. Almost too quiet at times," Jeter said.

Friday's incident was the 21st officer-involved shooting in South Carolina in 2023, and fourth involving the sheriff's office this year, Wunderlich said in the release. It is the first officer-involved shooting for the Inman PD this year.

SLED responded to two shootings involving Spartanburg sheriff's deputies in May.

One occurred on Memorial Day after a disturbance call at an apartment complex in Landrum. Shana McClain, 53, was found fatally stabbed in a wheelchair outside of the apartment. Spartanburg deputies and Landrum Police officers fired at an armed individual and struck him following an encounter. The man was later identified as Freddie Edwards Jr., 58.

A few days later, on May 31, Spartanburg deputies requested assistance from the Spartanburg Police Department while serving papers to Terrance Gault, 55, on Belmarc Drive in Park Hills. According to a report from Spartanburg PD, officers and Gault exchanged fire, then after a brief pause heard an additional shot from inside the Gault's residence.

Gault was later pronounced dead, though his manner of death is still unknown.

In February, SLED was also called to investigate a shooting on South Carolina Avenue, where Darius L.J. Holcomb, 39, died after being shot by a Spartanburg County Sheriff's deputy.

All three incidents are still under investigation by SLED.

In 2022, there were 32 officer-involved shootings in South Carolina, Wunderlich added in the press release Saturday. The sheriff's office was involved in three, while the Inman PD was not involved in any.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and The Greenville News. He can be reached by email at crogland@shj.com.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Man shot by Spartanburg deputies during hostage situation with juveniles