Richland County deputies, teens exchange fire after truck theft. Suspect, police dog shot

A shootout erupted early Thursday morning between Richland County sheriff’s deputies and two teenagers who stole a truck and fired pistols at deputies in the residential South Killbourne neighborhood, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters Thursday.

One of the teens and a police dog were shot, Lott said. Both are expected to survive.

“I stand here again talking about kids with guns,” Lott said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Guns get you in either one of two places: Either in jail or the cemetery. Fortunately, we don’t have anybody going to the cemetery this morning.”

Jeremy Taylor, 17, and an unnamed 14-year-old are accused of stealing a Ford pick-up truck earlier that evening before beginning a shootout when deputies attempted to stop the pair in the area near South Beltline Boulevard and Rosewood Drive.

Around midnight, deputies responded to reports of a truck stolen from the 500 block of Deerwood Street, which is also in the South Killbourne neighborhood. When deputies spotted the stolen truck around 2 a.m. Thursday, a short chase ensued before the two teens got out of the truck near Cavalier Court and Valencia Park. Both were carrying pistols, Lott said. One of the guns was taken from inside the truck, Lott said.

The sheriff’s department says Taylor did not listen to commands from the deputies, who then dispatched K9 Kobe to subdue him. Taylor opened fire on Kobe and the deputies, wounding the dog. The deputies returned fire, striking Taylor.

Taylor is in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Lott said. The sheriff’s department has also arrested the 14-year-old suspect.

Kobe’s partner, K9 Specialist Bryan Hodge, and the other officer, K9 Specialist Datron Washington, and his partner, K9 Sonny, were unhurt.

Kobe underwent surgery Thursday but is expected to live, Lott said.

Taylor is being charged with attempted murder, unlawful injury to a police dog, failure to stop for blue lights, grand larceny of a motor vehicle and multiple weapons charges. He is being charged as an adult.

“He shot at us and he shot at our dog. Now he’s got to pay the price for that,” Lott said.

The 14-year-old, who was not named as he is a juvenile, is being charged with grand larceny of a motor vehicle as well as weapons charges.

Thursday morning’s shooting is the tenth officer-involved shooting in South Carolina in 2024, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Not all of those shootings involved a person being struck, injured or killed, according to a spokesperson for the agency, which is often requested by local law enforcement agencies to investigate shootings involving officers.

Thursday’s shooting was the first in 2024 in which Richland County deputies shot somebody, according to the department. Lott said that it’s the department’s practice to conduct its own investigation into the shooting.

“We have the capability of doing that and we’ve been doing that for 10 years now. Citizens of Richland County trust us and know that we’re going to do what’s proper,” Lott said. The sheriff emphasized that his department simply collected the evidence and information, which would then be turned over to the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

In his news conference, Lott also called on residents, and gun owners in particular, to exercise “common sense” by locking cars and not leaving weapons or keys in their vehicles. Video from before the shooting showed the teens wandering a nearby nearby neighborhood, pulling on car doors.

“Your vehicle is not a holster,” Lott said. “If you’re in your house sleeping and your gun is out there, screaming for some kid to come by and pick it up, that’s not being a responsible gun owner.”

Columbia has the third highest rate of guns stolen from cars of any city in the United States, according to data from the FBI.

Residents React

Residents of Cavalier Court, a quiet street lined with single story homes and small apartments, reported being awakened by gunshots around 3 a.m.

One apartment resident told The State that he was woken up by screaming in the early hours of the morning. The resident also said that he could hear someone running, followed by the sound of seven or eight gunshots. Afterwards, there was silence.

Another resident, who wasn’t home at the time of the shooting, said that the Ring camera on his front porch activated at 3:03 a.m. when it recorded deputies putting up crime scene tape.

On Thursday morning, some residents of the diverse, middle class community took to social media to report a large law enforcement presence overnight. At about 7 a.m., the sheriff’s department posted on social media that there was “a police presence in the Rosewood/South Kilbourne neighborhood.”

Sheriff’s deputies at the scene declined to speak with The State.

Later on Thursday morning, the northern side of the neighborhood was still blocked off with yellow crime scene tape, as deputies could still be seen conducting an investigation behind a home that backs onto Valencia Park. Children’s bikes could be seen in the front yards of the some homes.

Deputies from the Crime Scene Unit were using a metal detector, searching the area around the home’s shed. Asked if there was a search for shell casings, a deputy said, “I’m looking for metal.”