Coroner identifies man who was shot, killed in confrontation with SC college security officer
A man was shot and killed New Year’s Day by a campus security guard at South Carolina’s Spartanburg Methodist College.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the fatal shooting, which was the first law enforcement-involved shooting of the year in the state.
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger identified the victim as Victor Figueroa Roblero, 48.
The shooting occurred on the morning of Jan. 1 on the college’s campus less than 10 minutes from downtown Spartanburg, according to a statement released Tuesday by SLED. The armed campus safety officer, whose name was not included in the news release, attempted to stop Roblero’s white Ford F-150 pickup truck from driving the wrong way on a one-way street on the Upstate college’s campus, officials said.
According to SLED, a “physical altercation” occurred when the officer attempted to arrest Roblero. The officer then shot the driver, who died at the scene.
The officer received medical treatment at a hospital for injuries, but he was not shot, according to SLED.
Roblero’s address was unknown as of Thursday afternoon, Clevenger wrote in a statement. He was identified through a fingerprint match on the National Crime Information Center, a national law enforcement database.
The college campus was closed for the holidays at the time of the shooting, and there were no students on campus, according to a statement released by the college.
The college requested that SLED investigate and confirmed in the statement that it was “coordinating with the agency” but added that “as the investigation is ongoing, we have no further updates at this time.”
Spartanburg Methodist College is a private, nonprofit college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It has an enrollment of 1,037 students in the 2023-24 academic year.
The campus safety department includes SLED-certified officers as well as Class 1 Police Officers who have completed, at minimum, basic law enforcement training with the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.
This story was originally published January 2, 2024 at 5:11 PM.