GUNFIGHT: It Happens This Fast

By Bob Owens | 2:49 PM | February 17, 2016

What starts out as an inconsequential marijuana possession charge quickly went bad when the 21-year-old suspect produced a hidden gun and attempted to murder two police officers in an attempt to escape.

The Cayce Department of Public Safety released the dash cam video of a gunfight between two officers and a suspect who was intoxicated and in possession of drugs.

The incident happened on Nov. 17, 2015, when police say they were trying to place 21-year-old Demetrius Shelley Bryant under arrest on drug-related charges when he broke free of the officers’ grip, pulled a gun out of his back pocket and fired at the head of one officer and shot the other in the leg.

The man was shot and subsequently died of his wound. Both officers–identified as Public Safety Officer Rhett Kelly and Sgt. Frank Ballentine–were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Calibre Press helpfully annotated this video.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.