Police Officer Shot to Death at South Carolina Airport

A 26-year-old police officer was murdered Sunday at a South Carolina airport as he attempted to make a traffic stop.

According to WSBTV.com, Florence Regional Airport police officer Jackson Ryan Winkeler was making a traffic stop on airport property at around 6 a.m. local time when 37-year-old suspect James Edward Bell allegedly shot him to death.

Winkeler was the first law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in the United States in 2020. Bell fled the scene and was captured in a car lot near Effingham by Florence County Sheriff’s deputies.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman Tommy Crosby said Bell is expected to be charged with murder. A witness to the crime said he heard gunshots while working across the street from the airport.

“I thought it was like somebody doing fireworks because of the New Year’s and all that,” the unidentified man told WSBTV. “I thought it was fireworks. As I come around the corner, I saw all the police and yellow tape, then I knew it was gunshots, real gunshots.”

There was a total of 134 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty last year, including 47 who were shot. The Florence County Sheriff’s Department released a statement about Winkeler’s death.

“This morning our community has been again shocked by an act of violence directed at one of our local Law Enforcement officers,” a spokesperson said. “We ask that the community please keep Jackson Winkeler’s family, friends, and coworkers in their prayers as they process what has occurred. They have our deepest sympathy and we will be assisting them in any way possible.”