Report sheds light on Trio shooting
Published on 12/3/2008
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.
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