Chapin, SC (Paul Kirby) - A man who was stabbed in the chest with a Japanese style fighting sword had to be airlifted by a medical helicopter from the Chapin area to Prisma Health’s Regional Trauma Center at their Palmetto Richland campus on Sunday, September 6, 2020. A Lexington County sheriff's deputy provided life saving first-aid for the patient at the scene until medical personnel could arrive.
According to a heavily redacted report provided by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, a deputy responded to a house in the 1100 block of Floyd Slice Court on the shores of Lake Murray outside of Chapin twice Sunday. It appeared as if there was some sort of conflict going on between a young man who was staying at this house and a middle-aged man who was in nearby Richland County off Johnson’s Marina Road. A woman was also at the Chapin house and appeared to have been somehow involved in the conflict between the two men. The fact that the young man had been living there at the lakehouse also appears to have been key to the dispute.
At some point Sunday, the suspect who was the middle-aged man had threatened to come to Chapin home from Richland County, possibly armed with an axe and a pistol. He threatened to attack the younger man he had the problem with. When the Lexington County deputy responded the first time, the suspect was not there. The deputy stayed with the couple for a short period of time but eventually, when the suspect did not show up, the deputy went back on patrol.
The second time the Lexington County deputy was dispatched to the home was for a home invasion. He was also told there was a fight in progress. He activated his patrol vehicle’s warning lights and arrived at the scene quickly.
When he got out of his SUV, the deputy drew his side arm and cautiously approached the house. The younger man met him at the front door and told the deputy the victim of the stabbing was on the back porch. At this point, the deputy did not know that the younger of the two men, the one who met him at the door, was the individual who been holding a sword when the other man was stabbed. The deputy described the young man as being extremely excited. In his report, the deputy said the suspect was shaking and appeared to be hyperventilating.
The deputy proceeded around the home to the back porch at the direction of the person who met him at the home’s door. There, he found the stabbing victim laying in a fetal position on the floor. That person told the deputy he had been stabbed so he radioed for Lexington County EMS to respond. He then returned to his cruiser, grabbed some medical equipment, went back to the porch, and begin to care for the injured man who appeared to have been stabbed just below his sternum in the area of his heart.
An officer from the Chapin Police Department arrived at the home to provide the sheriff’s deputy with some back up. That officer cleared the home and stayed with the other man and the woman who were on the scene until crews from Lexington County EMS and the fire service arrived to take over the patient’s care from the deputy. Only then, was he able to stop and take a good look at the sword that was used in the stabbing.
In his report the sheriff's deputy described the sword as a Japanese style Katana with a tanto tip. He also noted there was blood on the blade. At that point, the sheriff's deputy put the man who had been holding the sword at the time of the stabbing in the back seat of his patrol vehicle. EMS transported the patient to a landing zone in Chapin where the helicopter was waiting. The patient was transferred to the helicopter's crew and transported to the trauma center. That man was seriously injured and his current health condition is unknown.
Captain Adam Myrick, a spokesman for the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, said that the report provided was so heavily redacted because no charges have been filed. None of the people involved was identified and Myrick said that no arrests were made in this case.
