LAKE CITY, S.C. (WBTW) – Lake City police shot and killed a man this morning. The man wanted for murder in Virginia. It happened at around 1:30am on Highway 52, near the huddle house. Florence County coroner Keith Von Luckten identified the man as Richard Lance London. He was 22 years old, from Danville, Virginia. Danville police say London shot and killed an 80-year-old man just two days ago.
What started as a license plate check — soon turned into a shootout with Lake City police. Around 1:30 this morning, officers discovered a car driven by Richard London was stolen and pulled him over on Highway 52.
One witness, who did not want to go on camera, was at a fast food drive thru when she saw police respond.
“Two cop cars went by before 20 gun shots went off,” said the witness.
Other witnesses said they saw London get out of his car and shoot at the officers.
“It was just kind of concerning because I had my daughter in the car with me…he could have turned into McDonald’s and they could have had a shootout right there,” The witness adds, “People go everywhere with their kids… anyone could have got hurt.”
People who live in Lake City said something like this does not often happen in their community.
“Lake City is very quiet, you don’t really hear about too much going on. They have traffic stops but it’s never been anything like this,”explained the witness.
Lake City Mayor Loveth Anderson released a statement about the shooting.
It said, in part,
“We are extremely thankful for our brave men and women in uniform here in Lake City.
They risk their lives daily for the citizens of our community and did so this morning.”
SLED says this is the 28th officer-involved shooting in South Carolina this year… and the first to involve Lake City police.
48 officer-involved shootings happened in the state last year.
