Suspect stabs sheriff’s K9, is shot by deputies at Upstate hotel. SLED investigating

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating a shooting involving a police officer in the Upstate, the agency announced Friday.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and agents with the Department of Homeland Security were attempting to apprehend James Edgar Hopkins, 51, for outstanding warrants on Monday in Greenville County.

Officers located Hopkins outside a hotel on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greenville, officials said. Hopkins was armed with a knife.

According to SLED, officers used tasers and a bean bag gun on Hopkins, who stabbed a sheriff’s office K9 and ran into a nearby Bank of America parking lot. Deputies shot him.

Hopkins was taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital for treatment, and the K9 was taken to an animal hospital. There was no word on the state of their injuries.

No officers were injured in the incident.

Because of an ongoing investigation, SLED said that no other information will be disclosed at this time.

SLED conducts investigations of shootings involving law enforcement officers at the request of the agencies involved. The agency will conduct witness interviews, collect evidence and summarize findings in a report submitted to prosecutors, according to a news release.

The incident was the 16th shooting by a police officer in South Carolina in 2024, and the second for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office this year. Last year, there were 43 officer-involved shootings in the state.