On a January afternoon in 2002, Beaufort County deputies Dyke ’A.J.’ Coursen, 35, and Lance Corporal Dana Tate responded to a domestic disturbance at a mobile home on Riley Road in Burton, South Carolina. The 911 caller said a man, later identified as Tyree Roberts, was refusing to let his girlfriend and their infant daughter leave and that the woman had been struck.

When the deputies searched the bedroom, Roberts—who was on parole as a convicted felon—was concealed in a closet with a semi-automatic rifle and opened fire. Both Coursen and Tate were fatally wounded. Tate, despite mortal wounds, returned fire and wounded Roberts, who fled and was later found hiding under a nearby bridge with gunshot wounds to his shoulder and hip. He was taken into custody and charged with the killings.

At his 2003 trial Roberts represented himself; after thirteen days of testimony a jury convicted him of two counts of murder and, after 45 minutes of deliberation, recommended the death penalty. The defendant later changed his name to Abdiyyah ben Alkebulanyahh and remains on death row with appeals ongoing.

Did anyone in the area know the deputies or have additional information about that January afternoon?