‘Strange man’ arrested after shots fired at officer and dog, SC sheriff says
Authorities are investigating a shooting following reports that a “strange’’ mud-covered man had asked residents of rural Calhoun County for help late Thursday.
Details of what happened are still unfolding, but the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department says it found a man lying by a road after a car crash Thursday night. When a deputy arrived to investigate, the man fired shots and fled the area on foot, the department said.
Deputies, with the aid of a police dog, pursued the suspect, exchanged gunfire with the man and wounded him, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department. The man was sent to a hospital. The dog also was shot and transported to an animal clinic for treatment, the department said.
Eric Halmon, 45, of Orangeburg, was arrested and will face charges of attempted murder and injuring a police dog, the sheriff’s department said.
As the incident unfolded, a mud-covered man had told Church Camp Road residents someone was trying to kill him, the department news release said. The S.C. Law Enforcement Division has been called in to investigate the shooting, the sheriff’s department said.
Sheriff Thomas Summers said the department is trying to determine if the man had been drinking before the car wreck occurred.
“He was banging on doors, and we got a call from down there, and when one of the deputies confronted him, he shot at him ... and he ran off into the woods,’’ Summers said. “A canine unit came. The dog got a hold to him and he shot the dog, and then the deputies engaged him.’’
Summers said the police dog, named Angus, is expected to recover.
““The dog’s doing fine,’’ Summers told The State. ‘’He’s at the vet clinic. We’re going to patch him up and pick him up in a day or so.’’
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM.
