Sportcat
Member
Thoughts and prayers to the family of the two officers...
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1555225&nav=0RaMJXgH
(Abbeville) Dec. 9, 2003 - Authorities say two officers were killed in a 13 hour standoff on Monday that was started by a family who had a problem with the state and federal government. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart says the standoff ended in "a horrendous gunfight."
Stewart says the incident apparently was a planned assault involving at least three family members.
The incident began around 9:00am when an Abbeville County magistrate's officer, who authorities identified as 63-year-old Donnie M. Ouzts, came to the home of Arthur Bixby. It's unclear what brought Constable Ouzts to the Bixby property, but neighbors speculate it may have been related to the state seizing property for highway construction.
Abbeville Sheriff Charles Goodwin says Ouzts went to the small white house along state Highway 72, just west of downtown Abbeville, but didn't return to his office. Two deputies then went to the house and almost immediately put out an officer-down call. The Associated Press reports Ouzts was shot with a high powered rifle outside the Bixby home.
One of the deputies, Danny Wilson, was reportedly then shot. The other deputy escaped without injury.
The Highway Patrol retrieved the fatally wounded Ouzts some time later. Ouzts' son, Chris Ouzts, says his father was a family man and always visited his wife each morning at her work. They were married for 40 years.
Officers from the Abbeville Police Department, the Abbeville County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, the State Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Highway Patrol had by now converged on the house for a standoff.
Officers stormed the home around 9:00pm and about half a dozen shots were heard with several bursts of gunfire. Tear gas sent several dozen officers scrambling back hundreds of yards. Police at one point had thought Wilson was being held hostage, but found his body during the raid.
Arthur Bixby managed to remain barricaded in the home. His son, 36-year-old Steven Bixby, was taken into custody. No reports on whether the younger Bixby suffered any injuries.
Stewart says the standoff ended about 11:00pm with the elder Bixby shot at least once. An ambulance was seen taking someone from the home after the final raid.
As officers tried to storm the home, Stewart says they were fired on with the most powerful weapons he had ever seen in his more than 30 years in law enforcement. No word if any officers were injured during the assaults.
During the standoff, Arthur Bixby's wife went to an Abbeville apartment with another son and threatened to open fire on bystanders if either man was harmed. No bystanders were injured and there is no information on any arrests in that incident.
Stewart says officers found anti-American literature, suicide notes and other items inside the house and the apartment.
Neighbor Gene Land says Steven Bixby was angry because the state planned to take some of his land to widen the highway. Land lives about a half-mile away and says Bixby had been living in the house with his mother and father for at least 10 years. Land says some days Bixby was a good guy, some days he was moody.
One unnamed neighbor says he doesn't understand the anger, "I hate to see something like that happen, especially over what is supposed to be just land. Just a little bit of land the state was going to take for the road move."
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1555225&nav=0RaMJXgH
(Abbeville) Dec. 9, 2003 - Authorities say two officers were killed in a 13 hour standoff on Monday that was started by a family who had a problem with the state and federal government. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart says the standoff ended in "a horrendous gunfight."
Stewart says the incident apparently was a planned assault involving at least three family members.
The incident began around 9:00am when an Abbeville County magistrate's officer, who authorities identified as 63-year-old Donnie M. Ouzts, came to the home of Arthur Bixby. It's unclear what brought Constable Ouzts to the Bixby property, but neighbors speculate it may have been related to the state seizing property for highway construction.
Abbeville Sheriff Charles Goodwin says Ouzts went to the small white house along state Highway 72, just west of downtown Abbeville, but didn't return to his office. Two deputies then went to the house and almost immediately put out an officer-down call. The Associated Press reports Ouzts was shot with a high powered rifle outside the Bixby home.
One of the deputies, Danny Wilson, was reportedly then shot. The other deputy escaped without injury.
The Highway Patrol retrieved the fatally wounded Ouzts some time later. Ouzts' son, Chris Ouzts, says his father was a family man and always visited his wife each morning at her work. They were married for 40 years.
Officers from the Abbeville Police Department, the Abbeville County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, the State Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Highway Patrol had by now converged on the house for a standoff.
Officers stormed the home around 9:00pm and about half a dozen shots were heard with several bursts of gunfire. Tear gas sent several dozen officers scrambling back hundreds of yards. Police at one point had thought Wilson was being held hostage, but found his body during the raid.
Arthur Bixby managed to remain barricaded in the home. His son, 36-year-old Steven Bixby, was taken into custody. No reports on whether the younger Bixby suffered any injuries.
Stewart says the standoff ended about 11:00pm with the elder Bixby shot at least once. An ambulance was seen taking someone from the home after the final raid.
As officers tried to storm the home, Stewart says they were fired on with the most powerful weapons he had ever seen in his more than 30 years in law enforcement. No word if any officers were injured during the assaults.
During the standoff, Arthur Bixby's wife went to an Abbeville apartment with another son and threatened to open fire on bystanders if either man was harmed. No bystanders were injured and there is no information on any arrests in that incident.
Stewart says officers found anti-American literature, suicide notes and other items inside the house and the apartment.
Neighbor Gene Land says Steven Bixby was angry because the state planned to take some of his land to widen the highway. Land lives about a half-mile away and says Bixby had been living in the house with his mother and father for at least 10 years. Land says some days Bixby was a good guy, some days he was moody.
One unnamed neighbor says he doesn't understand the anger, "I hate to see something like that happen, especially over what is supposed to be just land. Just a little bit of land the state was going to take for the road move."
