‘Our hearts are breaking’: South Carolina police officer killed in shooting

CAYCE, S.C. — A South Carolina police officer was fatally shot while responding to a domestic disturbance.

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Roy Andrew “Drew” Barr, 28, an officer with the Cayce Police Department, died early Sunday, police spokesperson Ashley Hunter told The State newspaper of Columbia.

Barr and two other officers were dispatched to the scene at about 2:45 a.m. EDT, WIS-TV reported. He was killed when a suspect opened fire on the officers, according to the television station.

Update 5:11 p.m. EDT April 24: Cayce police Chief Chris Cowan said a seven-hour negotiation with the suspect ended when the man took his life, WIS-TV reported.

The coroner’s office said a man named Austin Henderson killed himself in relation to the incident.

“He cared about nothing else but serving his community,” Cowan said during a Sunday news conference. “He was a firefighter, he was an EMT, and he was a cop.”

Barr was a 2017 graduate of the Criminal Justice Academy and was promoted to the K-9 unit in 2020, according to WIS. His dog’s name was Molly.

According to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, Barr previously was shot and injured by a suspect in 2017 when he was a trainee, WSPA-TV reported. Officials said Barr and another officer attempted to make a traffic stop when the car fled. Officers were in pursuit of the suspect by car then later on foot. When officers spotted the suspect he began to open fire. Both officers returned fire but received non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, the general’s office said.

Original report: Cayce is located just west of Columbia, the state’s capital.

“Our hearts are breaking in Cayce. Officer Drew Barr has been an important part of the Cayce family since 2016,” Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said during a news conference. “All of our Cayce officers, our Cayce team, and our Cayce citizens mourn with Officer Barr’s family.”

“Please pray for the family, both blood and blue, of the Cayce police officer murdered in the line of duty,” Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster wrote in a Facebook post. “Think of those that suit up and go in at their own peril for their communities.”

It was unclear if the shooter was arrested or whether officers fired their weapons, The State reported. Partin told reporters that more information would be released when Cayce police Chief Chris Cowan addresses reporters later Sunday.

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