LAURENS, S.C. (AP) - A man who fired shots at police officers inside a hospital emergency room in South Carolina was sentenced to 22 years in prison, a prosecutor said Friday.
Kevin Boyce Patterson pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted murder and other charges in the April 2019 shooting at Laurens County Memorial Hospital in Clinton, 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo said in a statement.
Patterson and several family members were in a room in the hospital’s emergency unit when someone told workers Patterson had a gun, Stumbo said.
As officers went in the room to question Patterson, he fired several shots, hitting a Greenville Health Authority Police Department officer above his bulletproof vest. The officer survived, the prosecutor said.
Patterson then tried to leave the hospital holding his father at gunpoint, but officers were able to shoot him in the forearm and take him into custody without hurting his father, Stumbo said.
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