Authorities say two officers were killed in a standoff that was started by a family who had a problem with the state and federal government.  State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart says the standoff ended in "a horrendous gunfight."  Stewart says the attack apparently was a planned assault involving at least three family members.

The incident began around 9 o'clock Monday morning when an Abbeville County magistrate's officer who authorities identified as 63 year old Donnie M. Ouzts came to the home of Arthur Bixby. Two deputies came to the home and found the officer dead. One of the officers, Danny Wilson, was later found dead.  The other deputy escaped without injury. Stewart says the standoff ended about thirteen hours later with Bixby shot at least once.

His son, 36 year old Steven Bixby had surrendered about two hours earlier. Before the standoff began, Arthur Bixby's wife went to an Abbeville apartment with another son and threatened to open fire on bystanders if either man was harmed during the standoff. No bystanders were injured.

Stewart said, "I was in the front of the house with the agents when we retrieved the officer. I've never been, in my over-thirty-years, under this type gunfire. We were fired on with AR15s, with what, at this point, we believe to be 7mm Magnums."

Stewart says officers found anti-American literature, suicide
notes and other items inside the house and the apartment. As officers tried to storm the home, Stewart says they were
fired on with the most powerful weapons he had ever seen in his more than thirty years in law enforcement.