Investigations & Accountability
The call that brought Columbia police to a southeast neighborhood Saturday morning began as a domestic-dispute complaint. It ended with Officer Christopher DeLong dead, Officer David Dymock wounded and the man police identified as the suspect, Adam Tyler Dowdy, also dead near Southeast Park. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is now responsible for reconstructing the encounter and determining whether the evidence supports the first account given by city officials.
Police Chief W.H. "Skip" Holbrook said a woman contacted authorities at about 9:30 a.m. She reported that a man against whom she had a restraining order was damaging property at her home. DeLong responded and learned that the man had left before officers arrived. The caller gave police his name, a physical description and a description of the vehicle associated with him.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., DeLong left the residence. Minutes later he initiated a suspicious-person call after seeing a man beside a vehicle that appeared to match the descriptions provided by the caller, Holbrook said. Dymock arrived as backup. The next radio traffic described publicly by the chief came only minutes later, when Dymock reported that officers had been hit and that the suspect was down.
DeLong, 29, had served with the Columbia Police Department for two years. Department accounts said he was hired in 2024, graduated from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy in January 2025 and was assigned to the city's southeast region. Holbrook said DeLong is survived by his wife and two young children. His wife described him online as the best father to their children and said the family was living through a nightmare. Dymock was hospitalized in stable condition Saturday evening.
The independent investigation should answer questions the first briefing could not. Investigators will need to establish where each person stood, which firearms were recovered, how many rounds were fired and in what sequence. Body-camera footage, dispatch recordings, nearby surveillance video, ballistic evidence, medical findings and witness interviews may all contribute. The review must also determine what commands were given and what occurred between Dymock's arrival and his emergency radio transmission.
Domestic-violence and restraining-order calls can change rapidly because officers may arrive with incomplete information while an accused person, a complainant and family members remain in motion. That general risk does not decide this case. It explains why the timeline, communications and physical evidence matter and why conclusions should wait for the state investigation.
Holbrook did not take questions during the Saturday news conference. He asked the community to support the department and said its officers would lean on one another. Law-enforcement officials later joined a solemn procession from the hospital. The next reliable account should come through SLED's evidence review, not speculation about video that has not been released or motives that have not been established.
Sources
- Associated Press — An officer is dead and a second was injured in a shooting at South Carolina park (08-29-2026)
- South Carolina Law Enforcement Division — Official agency information (08-30-2026)