Solicitor Clears Cops in Fatal LEC Shooting of Mauldin Man

Two law enforcement officers who shot and killed a Mauldin man in January at the county Law Enforcement Center have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins.

In a brief statement released Wednesday, Wilkins said there was no evidence to support any criminal charges against a Sheriff's deputy and Greenville Police officer who shot and killed 31-year-old Wesley Swilling of Mauldin in an early morning confrontation at the LEC on Jan. 14.

"I believe the evidence supports the fact that the officers acted properly and appropriately under the circumstances," Wilkins said. 

The officers said they believed Swilling was approaching them armed with a gun and with malicious intent. That weapon, however, turned out to be a harmless, modified glue gun. Swilling, who allegedly ignored officers' demands that he surrender and stop advancing towards them, was shot seven times. 

Authorities indicated that Swilling, who has reportedly had a troubled past, planned his actions to create a lethal response from the officers.



Swilling's father contends the officers, who shot at his son more than 20 times, were "trigger happy." Meantime, the Swilling's lawyer contends the officers also were unprepared to handle the situation and overreacted with excessive force.

Officials with Greenville County Sheriff's Office and the Greenville Police Department said Swilling failed to comply when officers ordered him to put down the apparent weapon, which they believed to be a real gun. They also justified the number of shots fired because a surveillance video showed Swilling kept advancing toward them.

"We believe this was without provocation and certainly was not within the realm of reasonable," the family's lawyer, Tom Dunaway, told WYFF last month.