PO Andrew Barr
Officer: Cayce Police Department, Police Officer Andrew “Drew” Barr
Date: 4/24/2022 Location: Cayce, SC FACTORS (1,2,4,5,7,15,18,19)
Perpetrator(s) Involved: Austin Leigh Henderson
Criminal Activity History/Involved: Unknown. / Yes, Henderson had just attacked his wife with a rifle.
Mental Illness: None stated, but subject committed suicide which is an indicator of mental illness.
Substance Abuse History/Involved: Unknown. / None stated.
Race/Sex/Age: White/Male/36
What prompted the initial contact with the killer? At approximately 2:45 a.m. on April 24, 2022, Cayce Police Officers responded to a 911 call of a violent domestic incident where a woman reported “being attacked by a man with a rifle.” Upon arrival at the house the officers encountered a man in the yard and handcuffed him while they investigated his involvement.
Actions taken by subject toward police: Shortly after PO Andrew Barr showed up to assist the first officer with the handcuffed man, Austin Henderson fatally shot PO Barr from an upper floor inside the house using a rifle.
Reactions by the police: While under fire from the hidden shooter, the other officers evacuated PO Barr to a hospital where he was declared dead. Hostage negotiators responded and tried for seven hours to get the barricaded Henderson to surrender, but he took his own life with a handgun.
How murdered? PO Barr was ambushed and fatally shot without provocation by a man with a rifle hiding inside the house of a violent domestic incident.
What could have been done differently for the officer to still be alive? Given the nature of the call involving a man with a rifle, the officers would have had to park behind cover and call the suspect out of the house or have a SWAT team respond with shields and make entry.
Would the officer have been justified to use deadly force before being murdered? NA, the officers never had a chance to see and engage with Henderson before he fired the fatal shot.
Outcome for the cop-killer: Henderson barricaded and ultimately killed himself.
Miscellaneous: Henderson locked his wife and daughter in the closet and kept them there for the seven-hour standoff with the police. There is remarkably little reporting on Henderson’s criminal and mental history.
