The Williamsburg County Sheriff’s Office has released the incident report from Sunday morning’s Sutton community shooting that resulted in the death of a Salters community man.
Although much of the information on the report has been redacted, it does shed more light on what happened that caused 33-year-old John Lockliear.
According to the report, deputies were sent to 589 Sutton Road at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday and saw several people in the yard, including Lance Tilton.
Tilton told deputies at about 2:15 a.m. Lockliear - with whom he is familiar - got out of a car and started knocking on his back door.
Tilton said when he opened the door he asked Lockliear, “What do you want at this time of the morning?”
He said Lockliear responded by saying “I come here to kill you.”
Tilton said he quickly closed and locked the door and retrieved a rifle for his protection. At the same time Lockliear was allegedly trying to get in the house by pulling the doorknob.
Tilton said Lockliear then jumped back in his vehicle and started spinning around in the yard while firing shots at the house.
(The next sentence in the report which may explain how Lockliear got shot was redacted.)
A short time later, deputies received a call from Central Dispatch informing them Lockliear was at the Andrews Police Department.
Andrews Police Chief Harvey Knox told the Georgetown Times Sunday Lockliear was dead by the time he arrived at the department.
When asked by Williamsburg authorities how Lockliear got shot, Tilton reportedly said “well I think I hit him.”
(The next three lines of the report are also redacted.)
It’s unknown whether Lockliear was the driver or passenger in his vehicle when he arrived in Sutton.
Tilton said he did return fire after Lockliear began shooting at him, the report states.
Investigator’s have Lockliear listed as the suspect on the report. Tilton is listed as the victim.
: 12/4/2008
to "concerned".. Johnny was shot MANY times, by more than one gun. YOU need to get your facts straight before posting comments. No one wants to say how Lance and his buddies ganged Johnny and beat the crap out of him. No one wants to say Tim and Greg followed Johnny down the road shooting at the truck filling the tailgate with buck shot. How were they fearing for their life when chasing Johnny when he was dieing and trying to get help?? Why did Lance feel the need to call Tim and Greg for them to come over and help him shoot up Johnny? They had no place to be there! There are 2 sides to every story. Johnny wasn't a angel,but neither are the people who murdered him.
: 12/4/2008
well this report only shows lances side certaintly not johnnys an the only other person who knows the truth to all of this is god since we all know each side is going to make themselves look like the victim but my thoughts are that if lances family all know the trut and can post things on the internet then how come lances family cant go up to the lockliear family and say the same things posted they on this site....tell the lockliear's johnny got what he deserved...you know why they wont? because they are cowards, a coward posts something unknown on the internet
: 12/3/2008
you know we as a society don't have the repsect that we use to by posting things like some of these comments when we should just keep something like this to ourselfs and let things like this lay and die down you know we have comments that our children hear and say what we say i know for sure that some of ( Johnny's nieces and nefews have heard things from kids that make them mad and have gotten in fights) i bet that the samething is happening on Lances side of the family you know we need to look at ourselfs before we place comments like the ones posted on here and think about the world we live in ourself think about the kids that are involed in this matter also i know johnny has a child that is 13 years old think about what he has to go to school to hear about his father i also know Lances child is very young he doesn't know anything about this now but the way we keep going on about this he might still be hearing about this when he gets old so as the old saying goes we need to let a dead dog lie and stopped adding fuel to the fire. the georgetown times need to takes stuff like this off the internet so we can't add comments of any kind to things that happen in the matter of anyone deaths that are good or negative. no one but the good lord up above will ever know what happened at the house that night we all know that everyone is going to say what they have to to stay out of jail and to keep their name in good standing on both sides of this affair i just hope we can learn from something like this and keep our comments to ourselfs and not let our childern hear what we are saying their is no reason that childern should be saying things that adult say in the comfort of their house our we shouldn't be adding fuel to the fire by just spreading rumors that hurt both sides of family involved in something like this
: 12/3/2008
Were any of you there when this shooting happened? If not then you are relying on what you have heard. I am not saying Johnny was right or wrong. I am saying if you werent there you dont KNOW anything and should let the police do their jobs. There are TWO sides to every story and there is one side we have not and can not hear from, Johnnys. How can you say whos fault it was without being there? You dont know anything and are just pointing fingers after hearing stories. Let the police do their jobs and quit tryng to make judgements before all the facts are out.
: 12/3/2008
I believe that Williamsburg County Sherriff Department knows how to and will do their job! I really do not think anyone is out to get Johnny or make him look any worse than he made himself look! I am sure their will be plenty of people either way that will not be happy with the job the Williamsburg County Sherriff department does but that is the case with any situation here emotions are so high. At what point does it stop being Lance, Tim, Greg, Daniel, or the Williamsburg County Sheriff departments fault and become the fault of who caused it. We have all made mistakes and that is what Johnny made and the sooner everyone involved comes to terms with that the sooner everyone can move on with their lives and leave these two families grieve in peace.
: 12/3/2008
Actually, the statement above is only one sided. That was the statement of the victim that was posted. There were more people involved and Johnny was shot more than once. I'm not saying what Jhonny did was write, but if you do not know the facts about what happened you should respect both families and keep your comments to your self during this time.
: 12/3/2008
This is a horrible tragedy! This is something that should have never happened on either side. Everyone needs to stop accusing and think about the two main people involved in this horrific accident. We have already lost one person. May he rest in peace and God bless his family. They need all the comfort, support, and prayers they can get. However, the Tilton family should also be in everyone's prayers for they are grieving as well. This will take a toll on everyone in this community. I'm sure rivalries have already begun...Which is a tragedy to begin with. If you were not friends or family members to either person, would you still be making these awful accusations to anyone? Let the family's grieve and work this out...hopefully without so much hatred.
: 12/3/2008
Ok I know that ths is a horrible tradgedy but there seems to be A LOT missing from ths story. Were there any shell casings found at the scene from Johnnys gun? Gunshot hole in the house? Gunshot residue on Johnnys hands? Was Johnny shot in the truck or in the yard? How close was he shot from? There are many more questions that could be added but everybody gets the point. Until we get the whole story, we should all wait to form an opinion. I do hope the Williamsburg Sherrifs office investgates this totally so both sides can rest. Otherwise there will always be questions.
: 12/3/2008
Our Hearts and Prayers go out to Johnny's family he was always a friend and a wonderful person to us I will miss the way he's eyes lit up when he gave his wonderful smile.
: 12/3/2008
Johnny was only shot one time and all the guns are in custody. Who ever is trying to make it sound like johnny is the victim needs to shut up. He went to someone elses house they did not go find him and bring him trouble. Johnny for whatever reason choose to go find lance.
: 12/3/2008
Sooooooo let me get this straight.... the guy that showed up at the other guys house to kill him should have been the victim? Stop being biased and look at the facts for what they are.
: 12/3/2008
do you only post comments to make Lance look good?
: 12/3/2008
He was shot by 2 or 3 different guns sounds like murder to me by the way there were no holes in the house. must be a small house.
: 12/3/2008
what is going on with the other 2 guys who shot johnny they gunned this man down in cold blood they all should be locked up for a long time or worse.
: 12/3/2008
Thank you God! Now it is time to heal! I am so sorry a life was lost. God be with you Locklier family, I know you all very well. Johnny was not thinking very clearly that night. I'm sure if he could change his actions now; he would. God be with you during this most difficult time. Lance you have to forgive yourself and know that you would never have done anything like this under different circumstances. I know you and your family very well also. May God bless and keep you and all of your family during this time of hardship. Denise and Ringo, much love and prayers go out to you.
: 12/3/2008
Well I'm glad to see that Lance was listed as the victim and not the suspect. He didn't go looking for trouble as Johnny did. I hope there can be some closure to this tragic incident. May God be with Johnny's family.