Deputy Sheriff Theodore Turner, Kershaw County Sheriff's Office, South Carolina

Deputy Sheriff Theodore Turner

Kershaw County Sheriff's Office, South Carolina

End of Watch Thursday, April 29, 1971

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Theodore Turner

Deputy Sheriff Ted Turner was shot and killed while he and another deputy served commitment papers on a mental subject.

The man was permitted by the two deputies to obtain some personal items before being removed from the home near the Springdale Race Course. As the two deputies spoke on the front porch, the subject returned to the door and fired a shot from a 410 gauge shotgun, striking Deputy Turner in the back of the head.

The 51-year-old subject was arrested following a massive manhunt and committed. In January of 1982, hospital officials deemed him competent to stand trial and returned him to Kershaw County. On August 19, 1982, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the murder. He was released, but he voluntarily recommitted himself back into the mental hospital for continued treatment.

Deputy Turner had served with the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office for two years. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Bio

Age 29
Tour 2 years
Badge 16

Incident Details

Cause Gunfire
Incident Date Wednesday, April 21, 1971
Weapon Shotgun; 410 gauge
Offender Committed

EDP

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Theodore (Ted) Turner was a great guy. He would do anything he could to help someone. I was thirteen when he was killed.

Ted was a master mechanic and alternated between the job he loved (Law Enforcement), and another job he did well but may not have loved as much (mechanic), because the mechanic job payed better and better enabled him to provide for his family. When he worked as a mechanic, Ted continued serving Kershaw County as an unpaid Reserve Deputy. God bless this good man and God bless his family.

MPO (retired) Raymond L Price III
Columbia, SC Police Department

September 2, 2024