’We lost a brother’: South Carolina deputy fatally shot serving eviction notice

SUMTER, S.C. — A sheriff's deputy in South Carolina was shot and killed while trying to serve an eviction notice Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Sumter County Sheriff's Cpl. Andrew Gillette was shot in the chest and died a short time later, Sheriff Anthony Dennis said.

Gillette was wearing a protective vest, Dennis said.

The man being evicted, 56-year-old Terry Hasty, was also killed, according to the Sumter County Coroner's Office. The sheriff gave few details about Hasty or why he was being evicted.

“We lost a family member today. We lost a brother," Dennis said at a news conference.

Gillette, 37, was part of a sheriff's office team that serves civil papers such as eviction notices. He had been a Sumter County deputy since 2013 and leaves behind a wife and child, Dennis said.

Gillette was a 12-year Air Force veteran stationed at nearby Shaw Air Force Base and decided at the end of his military career to go into law enforcement as many of his relatives had done, officials said.

"He loved law enforcement. He loved the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office," Dennis said.

Dozens of uniformed deputies, investigators and other sheriff's office employees lined the road leading to the sheriff's office as investigators returned from the shooting scene.

Autopsies have been scheduled for both Hasty and Gillette.

The shooting happened on U.S. Highway 521, one of the busiest highways in Sumter County, about 40 miles east of Columbia.

A Florence Regional Airport officer was shot to death in January during a traffic stop.

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