Deputy cites 'pure instinct' in confrontation with killer

Date: 11/21/2007

The Post and Courier

MONCKS CORNER — A Berkeley County Sheriff's corporal was driving home from National Guard duty on a Sunday afternoon in March when he received a call: A man had just shot two Moncks Corner police officers. One officer was dead; the other would be by the next day. The man had a shotgun and was driving a stolen patrol car.

Clifford C. McElvogue, a low-key 30-year-old with a reputation for being quiet and respectful, would soon find himself faced with a simple decision, but one that would prove emotionally difficult: shoot or be shot.

Cpl. Clifford C. McElvogue fatally shot Gary Douglas shortly after Douglas had killed two Moncks Corner police officers.

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"It was pure instinct," McElvogue said during an interview at the Sheriff's Office on Tuesday. "If you think too long, it's going to be too late."

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said she reviewed the State Law Enforcement Division's report and found McElvogue acted lawfully and appropriately.

"I am grateful he handled the situation the way he did because, in the end, he probably ended up saving more lives," Wilson said.

As Gary Douglas raced around town in the stolen car, deputies felt he was a human time bomb.

"We knew that he already killed one officer and wouldn't be afraid to do it again," McElvogue said.

He learned about the officer shootings from his brother, also a Berkeley County Sheriff's deputy. Soon after turning on his police radio, McElvogue spotted and began trailing the stolen patrol car on U.S. Highway 52 at Cypress Gardens Road, off-duty and wearing Army fatigues.

Deputies said they felt they had to act as Douglas led them over to South Live Oak Drive, headed toward the center of town.

"They would think he was a police officer until he poked the gun out the window," Chief Deputy Butch Henerey said.

During the chase, McElvogue bumped Douglas off the road near Berkeley Alternative School. He drew his personal Glock 27 pistol and saw Douglas starting to lift the shotgun. The deputy fired several times. He doesn't remember how many.

He spent the next 30 days on paid leave, doing a lot of fishing and cutting grass, even when it wasn't necessary. He replayed the shooting over in his head, calling it a "24-hour movie."

After 45 days, he was back on the job.

Married for 11 years with a 7-year-old son, McElvogue grew up around Moncks Corner and attended Macedonia High School. After serving six years with the Army in Fort Sill, Okla., and Fort Bragg, N.C., he returned to the Lowcountry and joined the Sheriff's Office in late 2003.

Since the shooting he has turned to family and co-workers for support. In some ways, they are intertwined; his brother, Gerald McElvogue is a Berkeley County detective and his father, Clifford L. McElvogue, is a lieutenant.

McElvogue knew both of the slain Moncks Corner officers and had become fairly good friends with one of them, Pfc. Lonnie Wells, through contact on the job. He never imagined something like what happened March 25 in Moncks Corner.

"It makes you a little bit more aware of what could happen," he said. "Once you put on the uniform and leave the house, you're not guaranteed you're going to come back."

Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com

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