S.C. deputy shot to death while responding to alarm

SMOAKS, South Carolina (AP) -- A South Carolina sheriff's deputy was shot to death while responding to an early morning home alarm Wednesday, and though authorities were searching for a suspect with dogs and a helicopter, they said they had few leads.

The body of Colleton County Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Compton was found by the homeowner's son. Compton, 39, had gone into the empty house after an alarm went off. A few minutes later the homeowner's son, who was called by the alarm company, used the officer's radio to report the shooting, said Sheriff George Malone.

Malone said it was unclear whether Compton fired his weapon or if more than one suspect was involved.

"We don't have a lot of leads at this point," Malone said during a morning news conference in the neighborhood of small ranch homes near where the deputy died. "If there's a way, God willing, we'll find him."

Authorities set up roadblocks in and around Smoaks, a town about 70 miles northwest of Charleston and just west of Interstate 95. Tracking dogs and a helicopter also were being used in the search.

Compton, a husband and father, had worked for the sheriff's office for two years, first as a jailer and for the past 16 months as a deputy, Malone said.

"Deputy Compton was an honorable man, he was a family man," said Malone, who called the deputy "one of the best officers I had."

Neighbor Virginia Padgett, 66, said the woman who owns the house stays elsewhere several nights a week to care for elderly people. She said she was awakened by police who were responding to the shooting.

"Normally we never hear that many sirens in such a little town," said Padgett.

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