Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis says a deputy was justified in fatally shooting a suspect during a standoff last month. As we previously reported, deputies responded to a domestic dispute at Poinsett View Apartments in Greenville, December 9th.
9-1-1 dispatchers were told that a woman was being beaten by her boyfriend. When deputies arrived they encountered the victim and the suspect identified as 29 year old, Johndy Rodriguez.
As deputies approached Rodriguez armed himself with a knife. Body cam footage from the scene shows him telling a deputy "You ain't arresting me, I ain't going down without a fight."
The deputy repeatedly ordered Rodriguez to drop the knife, but he refused and was shot as a result. Deputies tried to administer life saving measures while EMS was on the way. However, those measures were unsuccessful and Rodriguez was later pronounced dead.
SLED was called into investigate the incident, their investigation is still ongoing. However in a critical briefing on Saturday, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said an internal review determined the deputy was justified in his use of lethal force.