According to a 16 page police report, the Summerville man who fired off more than six rounds in a local neighborhood suffered from PTSD and a back injury from a deployment with the National Guard.
According to the reports obtained by News 2 Thursday, the man, whom we are choosing not to identify, had full body armor, an “M4 and 38 and several other guns” when police found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the median near his home early Wednesday morning.
Police responded to Bridges of Summerville after multiple calls to 911 about a man firing shots in the street.
On the phone with police, the man said he would not harm law enforcement and only intended to take his own life.
When police arrived, he was crouched behind a white fence near a bush, firing into the air. He fired more than a half-dozen shots, according to police reports. Two homes int he neighborhood were evacuated.
His wife advised the Summerville Police Department he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following a deployment to Kuwait, and he had recently told her he wished to “commit suicide by cop.”
The man was wearing heavy body armor, an assault vest with several magazines and ammunition, and a Kevlar helmet was found near his body. He also had three weapons on him that were recovered at the scene.
Summerville police also called the Charleston County bomb unit after locating a suspicious object at the scene. Near his body, police located a metal canister containing what appeared to be “fine metal powder,” along with large oddly shaped metal pellets, and “it smelled of something similar to gunpowder”. Police believed it was consistent with a type of grenade. Police also located what appeared to be the spoon in the same area.Lowcountry PTSD Resources
Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur after someone goes through a traumatic event like combat, assault, or disaster. Most people have some stress reactions after a trauma. If the reactions don’t go away over time or disrupt your life, you may have PTSD.
There are several places in the Lowcountry to go if you know someone struggling with PTSD. You can find more information by clicking the links below.https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/index.asp https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
