New video provides details in fatal January standoff with Greenville deputy

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office provided new audio and video footage of an incident where the search for one man suspected of assault turned into a deadly standoff with another. However, the connection between the two men remains unclear.

During the late evening of Friday, Jan. 26, deputies from the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office arrived on S. Piedmont Highway and Cemetary Street in Piedmont after receiving a service call around 11 p.m. about a disturbance and an assault, the Greenville News previously reported. 

Several days later, Greenville County deputies charged Larry Doyle Simmons, 38, with third-degree assault and battery in relation to the incident. Simmons allegedly assaulted a victim with a wooden board which spurred the 911 call.

More:Man charged with assault after weekend fatal shooting involving Greenville deputies

The Critical Incident Community Briefing video provided Tuesday by the sheriff’s office plays audio from the two 911 calls made in relation to the alleged assault. The video also included body camera footage of a standoff between law enforcement and a man deputies initially believed was Simmons, but turned out to be another man, Robert Lee Campbell, 51.

Deputies shot and killed Campbell after he allegedly fired on them. The incident resulted from deputies’ search for Simmons, according to sheriff’s office public information officer Lt. Ryan Flood, who spoke during the briefing.

Campbell lived at 400 Cemetary Street which is near the 1508 South Piedmont Highway address deputies initially responded to. 

The sheriff’s office previously clarified that Simmons did not engage in a shooting with law enforcement and was not struck by gunfire. 

The sheriff’s office routinely releases critical incident videos 45 days after some use-of-force incidents. The briefings are typically narrated by Flood, who says that new information may change the GCSO’s understanding of the incident at a future time.

However, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said the sole deputy who discharged his weapon was justified in using deadly force and was not found to violate internal policy.

Connection between man shot and killed by deputies and man officers were searching for unclear 

Greenville sheriff’s deputies responded to the area to apprehend a man related to an assault outside a business but ultimately shot and killed another man. 

In the critical incident video, audio from two 911 calls related to the alleged assault by Simmons and body camera footage from the deputy who shot Campbell are played. 

On the first 911 call played in the briefing, the victim of the alleged assault says he is at Simmons Towing Service, located at 1508 South Piedmont Highway, near Cemetary Street. 

"Dude just come out here and opened my truck door and hit me in the mouth with a (expletive) big (expletive) stick," the man calling 911 says. "I’m just sitting in front of the (expletive) shop waiting on somebody to get in the truck with me, and he hit me in the mouth."

The man denied needing an ambulance but requested that law enforcement respond to apprehend the assailant.

"He just took off down the road with a girl hanging halfway out the car. I think he might have done hit her or something. I don’t know," the man says in a second 911 call shortly after. "He’s sitting in front of the shop right now."

During the briefing, Flood identified this man as Simmons and said that deputies initiated a search in the area for Simmons after he fled on foot.

Around 15 minutes later, deputies located another man concealed behind a pickup truck who they believed to be Simmons but was Campbell.

According to body camera footage from the deputy searching the area, the deputy says that he thinks the man he believes to be Simmons has a gun and later says he has "something long, like a barrel."

At least one woman can be heard nearby calling out "Larry" multiple times in a distressed voice as law enforcement tells spectators to "back up."

"Hey man, just talk to us, what’s going on with you?" the deputy shouts out to Campbell, who responds with something inaudible. "Come talk to us Larry...It doesn’t have to be like this."

The deputy directs "Larry" multiple times to put the gun down and to come talk to deputies. Campbell once again responds, but the audio is not clear what he says.  

"I don’t know if he’s got anything or not," the deputy says.

Eight seconds later, a gunshot can be heard, though not seen in body camera footage. In the narration, Flood says Campbell fired at deputies with a 12-gauge shotgun.  

The deputy then orders "Larry" to drop the gun three times before returning fire. The body camera footage shows the deputy firing two shots before footage ends.

The exchange of shots occurs roughly three minutes after deputies and Campbell begin their interaction.

Medical personnel with the sheriff’s office determined that the man in the standoff was Campbell and that he was deceased. Campbell's cause of death was determined as "multiple" gunshot wounds by the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. His time of injury is recorded as 11:19 p.m. and his time of death is 11:57 p.m.

"At the time of this release, it has not been determined why Campbell fired at deputies," "Flood said in the video. "However, it is clear he took no part in the original assault."  

The location where Campbell was shot and killed, 400 Cemetary Street, is also his home address, according to an initial release from the coroner’s office. Campbell’s address is roughly one-tenth of a mile from Simmons Towing Service, where the incident began. 

Deputies subsequently located Simmons in a fenced-in lot near the shooting scene and apprehended him.

During the briefing, Flood added that Campbell was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the incident to determine if any criminal wrongdoing occurred by sheriff’s deputies. SLED spokesperson Renée Wunderlich told the News Tuesday afternoon that SLED's investigation is still open.

The GCSO issues the critical incident briefings with the disclaimer that the sheriff’s office does not draw any firm conclusions about internal policy violations or criminal wrongdoing until the investigation is complete. Flood also adds the caveat that new information or evidence may change the sheriff’s office’s understanding of the incident.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and USA Today Network. Reach him via email at crogland@gannett.com.