On a Tuesday morning in Dalzell, South Carolina, Sumter County Sheriff's Corporal Andrew John Gillette, a 36-year-old male, was involved in a fatal shooting. The incident occurred on February 25, 2020, at a residence on Thomas Sumter Highway. Corporal Gillette, along with two other deputies, was attempting to serve a detention order and an eviction notice at the home.
As the deputies were carrying out their duties, a 56-year-old man inside the residence opened fire, striking Corporal
Gillette in the chest. Despite wearing a protective vest, the wound proved to be fatal, and he was rushed to a local hospital where he later died. The other deputies on the scene were not injured. In the exchange of gunfire, the suspect who fired at the deputies was shot and killed at the scene.
Corporal Gillette was a United States Air Force veteran who had served for 12 years and was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base before medically retiring. He had been with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office for seven years and was assigned to the Civil Process Division. He came from a family with a history in law enforcement. Andrew Gillette was survived by his wife and their 11-year-old son, as well as his parents and two brothers. His death marked the first line-of-duty killing of a Sumter County deputy since 1996.
