CALHOUN COUNTY, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) – What was supposed to be a checkup on a vacant family property quickly turned into a tragedy after deputies in South Carolina say a man was fatally shot at the “booby-trapped” home.
Deputies with the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office responded last Monday evening to a vacant home in Saint Matthews, South Carolina, after reports of a shooting. When they arrived, deputies say they found 34-year-old Jordan Dove suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He died on the way to the hospital, WIS reports.
Dove’s teenage daughter told deputies she and her father went to the home, which belongs to Dove’s uncle, 66-year-old Alfonzo Brown, to check on it, according to an incident report.
While at the home, Dove was shot by what Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers calls a “booby trap,” allegedly set up by Brown.
The incident report says Dove’s daughter told deputies that while she and her father approached the home’s door, they heard sounds “similar to fireworks.” That’s when she noticed her father had been shot.
“My heart goes out to them. We’ll say prayers for them for a long time. This is just a horrible thing,” Summers said. “Jordan was just going over there because he knew it was vacant property, just to check to be sure it hadn’t been burglarized or vandalized.”
Deputies say they entered Brown’s home and found a shotgun was rigged at the back door to go off once anyone attempted to gain entry. They also found the front door barricaded shut with no one inside.
“He [Brown] had taken a shotgun and screwed it to a stud in the wall and had it aimed towards the door. Then, he had, for lack of a better term, a pipe pressed up against the trigger wedged into the door. The door opened inwards, so when you opened it, it pushed the trigger and fired the blast,” Summers said.
Deputies say Brown is currently incarcerated in Maryland. He was a person of interest in a non-fatal, triple shooting on Jan. 11, according to a press release from the Prince George’s County Police.
Summer believes Brown set up the booby trap in fear that the Calhoun County’s Sheriff’s Office would be looking for him at his home after he committed the crimes he’s accused of in Maryland.
“This is my opinion: he knew the crimes he was going to commit when he left here and went to Maryland. He knew he would be on the run. He knew that he would be tracked back to Calhoun County. He knew that we would be coming out there to get him, and I think he set it up for us,” Summers said.
WIS spoke briefly with Dove’s wife last Wednesday. When asked how her family and her daughter, who witnessed the incident, were doing following the news, all she said is “We’re doing.”
Deputies say Brown will be charged in connection with his nephew’s death. The charges he faces are murder and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, according to Summers.
The investigation is still active, and Summers says there could be additional charges. He is not sure when Brown will be brought back to South Carolina to face charges.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
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