Prison Escapee Is Fatally Shot by Woman After He Broke Into Her Home, Sheriff Says

A felon who escaped from a South Carolina prison early Tuesday and barged into a woman’s home was fatally shot by the homeowner in what the local sheriff described as a “shining example” of why people should own guns and know how to use them.

The episode began around 2:35 a.m. when a pair of Pickens County Prison inmates carried out what Sheriff Rick Clark said was a “premeditated plan” to escape. While the authorities said they were still investigating exactly how the inmates got out of the prison, in the northwest corner of the state, Clark said the inmates assaulted two detention officers in the process. By Tuesday night, the officers were “sore and a little bruised” but resting at home, the sheriff said.

Deputies responded, and one of the escapees, Timothy Dill, was taken into custody a short distance from the prison, in Pickens, South Carolina, Clark said at news conference Tuesday. That man now faces new charges including assault and other counts connected to the escape, the sheriff said.

In the meantime, the other fleeing inmate, Bruce McLaughlin Jr., 30, had kicked in the door of a nearby home and armed himself with a metal tool used for sharpening knives that he found in the kitchen, the sheriff said. The homeowner was there alone and McLaughlin approached her bedroom door, leaving her with no way to escape, the sheriff said.

The woman fired a single shot from a handgun she owned, which struck McLaughlin in the head and killed him, the sheriff said, adding that the homeowner was not injured.

The woman, whose name the authorities did not release, had a concealed-weapons permit and could legally own the gun, the sheriff said. She had no previous relationship with McLaughlin, he said.

McLaughlin — whom deputies found in the home at about 3 a.m. dressed in prison attire, an orange jumpsuit — was flown by helicopter to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Associated Press reported that McLaughlin had been in and out of the Pickens County jail about a dozen times on charges ranging from drug possession to assaulting a police officer to shoplifting. Citing sheriff’s office records, The AP said he was awaiting trial on first-degree burglary and grand larceny charges.

At the news conference, Clark called the homeowner a hero and emphasized the need for people — especially women — to get concealed weapons permits.

“This is the shining example of what this lady did — took the time to get her CWP and set herself up to be able to protect herself and not be harmed, killed or raped or whatever,” Clark said. “She came out on the good, on this end, and the other guy — the bad guy — didn’t.”

The sheriff’s remarks appeared to echo the “good guy with a gun” theory advocated by the National Rifle Association and President Donald Trump as a solution to mass shootings. Such arguments have once again come under scrutiny after two separate episodes last month in which a black man with a gun was killed by police; in each case, the families of the men shot by the police have said they were trying to stop other gunmen.

“This was a big guy,” the sheriff said of McLaughlin. “If she hadn’t had a weapon, no telling what would have happened. But she stopped the crime, she solved the crime for us, and she came out a winner.”

Asked to clarify his comments in a telephone interview Tuesday night, Clark said he had wanted to stress the importance of firearms training, which he said he believed had saved the woman’s life.

“I don’t want to get into the whole gun debate, but I do want people, especially in their own homes, to be able to defend themselves,” he said.

At the earlier news conference, Clark said he had spoken with the homeowner, given her “a big hug” and told her that he was proud of her.

“I think she’ll be inspiration to a lot of other ladies,” he said.