West Columbia officer shot Tuesday released from hospital

A West Columbia police officer who was shot earlier this week has been released from the hospital.

James “Trip” Holland was released from the hospital, according to Captain Scott Morrison.

Holland was part of a group serving a bench warrant for William Lee Kernan at Kernan’s home on Hudson Street in West Columbia Tuesday.

Kernan, who has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Holland, has a decade-long history of taunting and harassing behavior toward police and his neighbors.

Incident reports obtained by The State newspaper show that 51-year-old William Kernan has been on the West Columbia Police Department’s radar since 2004. However, Capt. Scott Morrison, a police department spokesman, said issues involving Kernan in the city’s New Brookland Mill Village neighborhood have happened more frequently in the past year.

A large portion of the reports pertain to noise complaints regarding Kernan’s use of a generator to provide electricity to his home. But according to a report filed with the West Columbia Police Department on March 7, just a few weeks before Kernan allegedly shot an officer who was serving a bench warrant at his home on 320 Hudson St., neighbors reported seeing a sex toy attached to a second-story window of Kernan’s residence.

After officers arrived to investigate, Kernan, who was working on the roof of his home, went inside and took down the sex toy, according to a police report. Morrison said although there are laws against displaying human genitalia in public, there are no laws banning reproductions, so he was not charged.

In November 2014, an incident report said neighbors reported hearing screams and loud noises coming from inside of Kernan’s residence. Neighbors said they heard, “Help! Help! He has a knife.”

When officers investigated, they found Kernan standing in his bedroom with a rifle within arm’s reach. They also found a 19-year-old man inside the residence who told officers he and Kernan had been running up and down the stairs, playing around. No criminal charges were filed as a result, but officers did unload the rifle and a shotgun found in one of Kernan’s closets.

Another incident report filed in August 2014 said Kernan allegedly approached the employees of an Advanced Auto Parts store asking for a gun. Kernan told the employees he was going to set himself on fire in front of the West Columbia Police Department and then shoot himself.

An officer found Kernan walking to a nearby gas station, the report said. When the officer approached him, Kernan reached into his pocket and removed something before placing his hand behind his back. After Kernan did not comply with the officer’s commands to drop the object, the officer, fearing that it was a gun, took Kernan’s arm, and forced him to drop it. The object was a pipe used for smoking marijuana, and Kernan also had marijuana in his pockets.

He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and simple possession of marijuana and transported to the Lexington County Detention Center.

The prior incidents that West Columbia police have had with Kernan is why they approached him with caution on Tuesday while serving a bench warrant for failure to appear in court for a city noise violation. Kernan shot at Officer Trip Holland with a shotgun through a wall, hitting Holland in the head. Holland is still in the hospital, but is said to be recovering well.

“Every time we dealt with him we were a little more cautious than approaching your normal person,” Morrison said. “I know the community is pleased. They seem to be relieved that he is off the street.”

Former attorneys who have represented Kernan in court could not be reached for comment regarding their client’s history. It’s unclear who is representing him going forward.

Anne-Kathryn Flanagan contributed to this story.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 12:17 PM with the headline "West Columbia officer shot Tuesday released from hospital."