Monday’s shooting is 3rd involving a Lexington County deputy since September 2014

The death of a man during a domestic dispute Monday near Irmo was the third officer-involved shooting by a Lexington County deputy since September 2014.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher identified the man on Tuesday as Timothy Milliken, 56. Milliken was shot and killed at a residence in the 100 block of East Selwood Lane off North Lake Drive after allegedly assaulting a family member with a knife outside the home, according to sheriff’s department spokesman Adam Myrick.

Deputies who were dispatched to the home at 5 p.m. in reference to a domestic disturbance saw Milliken attacking a family member with a knife, Myrick said. Fearing for the life of the family member, both officers fired their service weapons, Myrick said.

One deputy has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience, Myrick said; the other has been with Lexington County for two years.

Such shootings are unusual in Lexington County, despite the fact that it has the state’s sixth-largest population.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division officials are investigating the shooting. It is the second officer-involved shooting involving a Lexington County deputy in 2015 and the third since September 2014, according to a study by The State newspaper of five years of SLED’s officer-involved shooting data from across the state.

Thom Berry, a SLED spokesman, said the most recent shooting occurred April 21, when Lexington County deputies shot and killed 59-year-old Kimber Key, of Florida, who had a knife and became suicidal while visiting his brother in Irmo.

Berry said SLED investigators decided no charges should be filed against the deputies. The case was closed June 15, he said.

On Sept. 22, 2014, a Lexington County deputy shot an 18-year-old burglary suspect at a residence on Drooping Leaf Drive near Lexington. The deputy shot and wounded Adrian Ryans when Ryans pulled a “Black Ops” airsoft gun from his waistband after the deputy saw Ryans diving from a bedroom window of the home. The teenager survived.

No charges were filed against the deputy. SLED closed the case in January, Berry said.

South Carolina remains on a pace to have the most officer-involved shootings in at least 15 years after Monday’s incident.

Berry said Monday’s shooting is the 29th officer-involved shooting this year. The state is on pace for 50 officer-involved shootings in 2015, eclipsing the previous 15-year high of 45 officer shootings in 2012.

Shootings involving police officers in South Carolina have been on the rise since 27 were reported in 2009, with more than 40 reported in each of the past three years.

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 1:15 PM.