A Columbia police officer was killed and a second was wounded Saturday morning in a gunfight at a city park on Columbia’s southeast side. The suspect is also dead.
Officer Christopher DeLong was 29. He had been with the Columbia Police Department for two years. He leaves a wife and two children.
It started as a property call. Around 9:30 a.m., a woman called police about a man with a restraining order who was damaging property. By the time officers arrived, he was gone.
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About an hour later, around 10:30 a.m., DeLong called in a suspicious person near a vehicle at Southeast Park on Hazelwood Road, off Garners Ferry Road. The description matched. Officer David Dymock arrived minutes later.
Then both officers were hit and the suspect was down.
Chief W.H. “Skip” Holbrook called it a gunfight. He identified the suspect as Adam Tyler Dowdy, 33, and said Dowdy had an extensive criminal history across multiple states, including arrests for disorderly conduct, contempt of court, public intoxication and drug possession.
Dymock is in stable condition.
“Our hearts are broken this evening,” Holbrook said Saturday night. “I hope that our officers know that they’re not alone in this.”
The chief took no questions.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating, with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department assisting. No findings have been released.
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