Police found homemade explosives on the body of a 22-year-old Columbia man who died Wednesday after charging police with an AK-47 in Shandon.
Blakely Hilton Jernigan had built the homemade explosives out of a powder, but they were no more sophisticated than high-powered firecrackers, Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said. Investigators also found more weapons, cocaine and marijuana in Jernigan's apartment after the hour-long standoff ended in a hail of gunfire, Scott said.
More details emerged Thursday about the standoff that resulted in police SWAT members shooting and killing Jernigan outside a rental house in the Shandon neighborhood. Police continued their investigation as they tried to piece together events that led Jernigan, a former Eagle Scout, A.C. Flora High soccer player and Clemson University student, to spiral out of control.
Jernigan faced serious criminal charges in Pickens County for drug dealing and illegally carrying a gun while at Clemson. And he was under investigation from another law enforcement agency for his drug dealing, said Walt Wilkins, the 13th Circuit solicitor. Wilkins said Thursday his office had been delaying prosecution on those 2009 weapons and drug charges so the other investigation could play out.
The bizarre chain of events that led to the shootout began at 3:40 a.m. when a man delivering The State newspaper noticed he was being followed by someone driving a black Ford Explorer. The newspaper carrier called police, who eventually stopped Jernigan at Wilmot Avenue and King Street, near Hand Middle School.
As Patrolman Alexander Broder approached Jernigan's car, the young man fired a handgun at close range, striking Broder in the chest. Broder survived the shot because he was wearing a department-issued bullet-proof vest.
Police tracked Jernigan to his apartment in a four-unit, brick house at 2730 Blossom St., where they had an hour-long standoff as police negotiators and Jernigan's father tried to coax him into surrendering. Police thought Jernigan had agreed to give up and expected him to exit the house from a back door, Scott said.
Instead, Jernigan stormed out of a side door -- from a different apartment -- with an AK-47 assault rifle. He surprised two SWAT members who were guarding that side of the house. The officers fired, striking Jernigan multiple times in his legs, abdomen and chest, said Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. Jernigan died at the scene, Watts said.
Investigators found three or four homemade explosives in Jernigan's pants pockets, Watts said. His body lay in the backyard for hours as bomb squad teams were called to disable the explosives on him and inside his apartment.
When officers entered the apartment they found Jernigan's girlfriend passed out in the bathtub, Scott said. She had been using drugs and was taken to a Columbia hospital, he said. The woman, who is in her 20s, has not been named as police continue their investigation.
Inside the apartment, police found an amount of cocaine and marijuana large enough that they could have charged Jernigan with distribution of the drugs had he not died, police said.
Investigators also found a second AK-47, machetes and other knives with long blades, and an explosive powder that had been used to construct the homemade explosive devices, Scott said.
Jernigan also had turned on the apartment's stove, and natural gas was filling the apartment, Scott said. That could have been a deadly situation if police had been forced to enter the apartment, the chief said. SWAT units often use stun grenades to incapacitate suspects, and one of those devices could have caused an explosion when mixed with the natural gas, Scott said.
Police still have not said exactly how Jernigan was able to get out of his apartment and break into another unit in the house. At some point during the negotiations, Jernigan had crawled around the attic, but Scott said he was not sure if Jernigan had entered the other apartment through the attic.
Residents were asleep inside two of the four apartments in the house when the standoff began. Police chose not to evacuate them, deciding it was safer for those people to stay inside. The apartment Jernigan emerged from was one of those apartments, although the people who lived there were not hurt.
On Thursday afternoon, no one answered the door at any apartment in the house. A small window in one door was broken, and it appeared someone had replaced the lock. A pair of plastic police handcuffs was in the front yard.
In July 2009, Jernigan's roommate at Clemson sold marijuana to an undercover police officer, Wilkins said. When police were executing a search warrant at their apartment, Jernigan showed up carrying a .40-caliber Glock pistol and narcotics in a backpack, he said.
Police arrested Jernigan for possessing more than 10 grams of cocaine, more than 28 grams of marijuana and six Oxycodone pills, according to arrest warrants. Jernigan was charged with six felonies, including unlawful possession of a handgun and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana.
The roommate, Matthew Randell Thompson, had a couple of pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car, Wilkins said. Thompson, now 24, pleaded guilty to two drug-related charges in April 2010 and was sentenced to a month of home incarceration and three years probation, Wilkins said. Neither Thompson nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday.
The solicitor's office had not pursued the charges against Jernigan because another law enforcement agency had requested they hold off as its agents investigated him, Wilkins said.
Wilkins, who took the solicitor's job in January, said he did not know which other agency was investigating Jernigan, who later dropped out of Clemson and moved back to Columbia. FBI agents were on the scene at Wednesday's shooting, but Denise Taiste, an FBI spokeswoman in Columbia, would not confirm or deny that they previously were investigating Jernigan.
Beattie Ashmore of Greenville, Jernigan's defense attorney in the Pickens case, said Thursday he couldn't offer any insight as to what led Jernigan to such a violent end.
By all accounts, Jernigan was a good student at A.C. Flora, where he made the honor roll and played soccer. He also was an Eagle Scout, Ashmore said.
But it is unclear when Jernigan became so involved in drugs and what led him to charge police with an AK-47 during Wednesday's standoff.
"I have absolutely no explanation," Beattie said. "It's just a tragedy of unspeakable proportions."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
