An Aiken County deputy was shot in the stomach, side and leg late Wednesday night after a traffic stop turned violent on Shiloh Heights Road, and a manhunt is now underway for a suspect who fled on foot. The deputy was conscious when an ambulance arrived and was rushed to a hospital, according to authorities, as investigators worked through the night to track down whoever pulled the trigger.
The shooting began as a routine traffic stop around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to WRDW. Two people were inside the stopped vehicle, and one of them got out and ran. The deputy chased after that person and was shot during the pursuit, the station reported. The wounded deputy was taken to Wellstar MCG and was conscious when the ambulance arrived; WRDW reported the deputy was out of surgery and in stable condition just before 5 a.m. Thursday.
Investigators later tracked down the vehicle connected to the stop. Around 4 a.m., the vehicle, described as a silver or gray Hyundai Tucson bearing South Carolina tag 453DDS, was found, per the station's report. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has since taken control of the investigation, and Shiloh Heights Road was shut down between Pipeline Road and Edgefield Highway for about seven and a half hours; the command center was taken down Thursday morning, the same account notes.
Conflicting Details Emerge in a Separate Account
A separate report from The Augusta Press describes a different sequence of events tied to the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. That account states Sheriff Marty Sawyer identified the wounded deputy as Deputy Ethan Crosby, who had been with the sheriff's office for a little more than a year, and reported that the deputy was still in surgery after being shot and then run over during a confrontation.
According to The Augusta Press, that incident began when deputies responded to a hit-and-run at a RaceWay gas station on Columbia Highway North near Interstate 20, eventually stopping a truck on Powell Pond Road near Corry Lane after locating it close to the registered owner's residence. The outlet reported that the female driver opened her door and began shooting at deputies before running over a wounded deputy as she fled. That account identifies the woman, per the Aiken County Coroner's Office, as 38-year-old Amanda Buckner, who later died at Aiken Regional Medical Centers.
It is not clear from the available reporting whether the WRDW traffic-stop account and The Augusta Press hit-and-run account describe the same incident or two separate events. The deputy's name, exact medical condition, and whether the deputy remains in surgery could not be reconciled between the two reports, and the suspect's identity along with the current status of the manhunt have not been independently verified.
Part of a String of Shootings Involving Aiken County Deputies
The sheriff's office said this was the fourth shooting involving Aiken County deputies in 2026, WRDW reported. The Augusta Press reported that the October 5 shooting was the third involving the sheriff's office that year and the 31st statewide. Earlier in October, Deputy Ethan Crosby was injured in a shooting near Corry Lane, Powell Pond Road and Scotch Lane, and the suspect in that incident died after deputies returned fire, according to WRDW's reporting.
Other officer-involved shootings this year include a May 8 incident in which a man was injured after pointing an AR-15 at Aiken County deputies and state troopers near Interstate 20, and a March 6 shooting in which a Warrenville man was injured while allegedly attempting to break into a home on Connector Road, both detailed in the station's report. Those earlier cases underscore a tense stretch for the department even as the latest shooting remains under active investigation by state authorities.
