An Irmo police officer fired at least one shot at a man who opened his front door carrying an AR-style rifle during a domestic disturbance call on Ashbourne Road, and no one was struck in the exchange. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is now investigating, marking the state's 39th officer-involved shooting of the year and the first to involve Irmo police.
According to The State, Irmo officers responded Sunday to a domestic disturbance call at a home on Ashbourne Road. As officers approached, a man wielding an AR rifle opened the door, and at least one shot was fired by an Irmo police officer, the newspaper reported. The man was not struck by the bullet, and no one was injured in the encounter, per the same account.
As first reported by WIS News 10, SLED is conducting an independent criminal investigation into the shooting, according to a statement from the Irmo Police Department. The department said SLED is responsible for interviewing witnesses, collecting and examining evidence, and submitting its findings to prosecutors for review, per the same statement.
Department Defers to State Investigators
Irmo police deferred all questions about the incident to SLED and said the department will not comment on details while the outside agency handles the active investigation, according to the department's statement carried by WIS News 10. SLED itself has withheld further details because its investigation is ongoing, per the agency.
The State reported that Irmo police requested SLED's investigation into the incident. SLED told the newspaper this was the 39th officer-involved shooting in South Carolina so far this year, and the first in Irmo.
A Rising Count Across South Carolina
The pace of these incidents has been building throughout 2026. SLED told The State that there were 45 officer-involved shootings statewide in all of 2025, a tally that this year's count is already approaching with two months still to go.
Other recent cases illustrate how often SLED has been called in this year. A mid-October shooting at a home in Goose Creek, in Berkeley County, left one man dead and another hospitalized, according to South Carolina Public Radio, which noted at the time that the incident was the 32nd officer-involved shooting of the year. Separately, a SWAT officer in North Charleston shot and killed a suspect in a case that officials called the state's 37th officer-involved shooting of 2026 and the first involving the North Charleston Police Department, according to Count On 2.
No further details about the Ashbourne Road encounter, including the identity of the officer or the man involved, have been released as SLED's investigation continues.
