Suspect wounded in shootout with Richland deputies

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A suspect has been wounded in a shootout with Richland County sheriff’s deputies.

Sheriff’s spokesman Curtis Wilson says narcotics agents were shot at when they tried to search an apartment Thursday evening. Wilson says deputies had knocked several times and entered the apartment when no one responded.

Wilson says a man in the apartment fired at the officers and they returned fire.

Twenty-five-year-old Fredrick Withers II has been charged with several counts of attempted murder and drug offenses. He was being treated at Palmetto Health Richland hospital.

Sheriff Leon Lott says deputies found marijuana and a gun thought to be used in the shooting. No one else was in the apartment.