FLORENCE, S.C. _ The Florence man in custody following a Wednesday shooting that killed one police officer and injured six others is the father of a current law enforcement officer and of a former one.
"My heart goes out to the family of the wounded officers and the family of the fallen officer," said Fred Hopkins III when contacted by The State Friday morning. He is a former officer who was with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department until mid-2018, according to South Carolina Police Academy records.
"I'm out ... alive ... safe ... and sane ... 12 years 7 months and 28 days ... my days in correction is now complete ... " Hopkins III wrote on social media this past summer.
He declined to comment further about his father.
In an unusual twist in a case that has drawn national attention, Hopkins III, 48, is the older of two sons from a previous marriage of Fred Hopkins', according to court records. Hopkins, the father, is being held by police following a shootout at his upscale home in Florence that left a veteran police officer dead. Fred Hopkins, 74, has not been charged in the case, thought to be one of the bloodiest police encounters in recent American history.
Hopkins' younger brother, Sean Hopkins, 46, is an officer with the Santee Police Department in Orangeburg County, according to South Carolina Police Academy records. Efforts to reach him were not successful.
Sean Hopkins has a history in law enforcement going back more than a decade. He also worked with police departments in Batesburg-Leesville, Saluda, Bishopville and Ninety-Six, where he was a K-9 officer.
Sean Hopkins was awarded a "Most Inspirational Police Officer" award by the Bishopville Police Department in January 2016, according to a social media post.
A former co-worker with the Bishopville Police Department, who asked not to be identified, said Sean "was a good officer ... very by the books," and that he was enjoyable to work with.
The two Hopkins brothers do not live in Florence.
