Two Upstate sheriffs say the still-unnamed double-murderer and arsonist gunned down by their deputies Wednesday night should never have been on the street. They both blame state lawmakers for that.
Sheriffs Hobart Lewis of Greenville County and Chuck Wright of Spartanburg say the legislature's reluctance to tackle bond law reform often allows people who should've remained behind bars to commit more crime.
The officially unidentified "person of interest" in the bludgeoning death of 56-year-old Kelli Whitten of Anderson and 55-year-old Anissa Henderson of Greenville, whose bodies were found by firefighters putting out the blaze deliberately sett o cover their murders, had also been victims of domestic violence at the hands of the same man.
He had been released on bond and was wearing an ankle monitor when he was shot. The suspect was found at a house in a Landrum neighborhood where he had been tracked down by license plate cameras leading from the crime scene.
The sheriff's say he came out "brandishing a gun" and half a dozen deputies from both counties opened fire. Sheriff Lewis says the man was a killer, a menace to the community who would probably have killed again.
