South Carolina: The alleged gunman of 7 law enforcement officers had 129 firearms

The man suspected of shooting seven members of the police, one of them fatally, was in possession of 129 firearms and opened fire with three of them, including "two assault rifles". "Military style," Sheriff Leon Lott of Richland County, South Carolina, said at a press conference Tuesday.

"It was a programmed ambush," he said about the Oct. 3 attack in Florence, South Carolina, which took life at the officer Terrence Carraway, 52 years old. "We are lucky that more officers have not been killed."

Lott said that two of the wounded remained in critical condition; we said that we were improving; and another was transferred to a medical center in Georgia. "We still have four policemen in the hospital," he said. "… they need your prayers.

Violence continued after the arrival of the authorities at the 74-year-old suspect, Frederick Hopkins, so that he would go on a search warrant, alleging that his son, Seth Hopkins, had had sexual intercourse with a minor.

The forces of order on their arrival were affected by gunfire and plans to storm the multigenerational home were complicated by the presence of four adoptive children, aged about 10. at 17, hiding inside, the authorities announced.

The sheriff's department said Tuesday in a statement that more than 390 cases had been found outside the Hopkins residence. at least 39 were found inside.

"Going inside this house is chilling," says Lott. "… Going there and seeing what these agents were facing is something I never want to see again."

He added that the crime scene at home was being processed and that the evidence would be sent to prosecutors. The former Hopkins faces a murder leader and six counts of attempted murder.

WMBF, affiliated with NBC News, based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said Hopkins' request for a public defender was denied on Tuesday by a local judge.