ABBEVILLE - A magistrate's officer was killed Monday morning and a county deputy is missing in a standoff with an armed gunman at an Abbeville home, authorities said.

Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley identified the magistrate's officer as 63-year-old Donnie M. Ouzts. The missing deputy is Danny Wilson, Sheriff Charles Goodwin said.

Police were attempting to contact the man inside the house, who was identified as 36-year-old Steven Bixby.

Goodwin said the magistrate's officer went to the house along S.C. 72 west of downtown Abbeville about 9 a.m. Monday When he didn't return to his office, two deputies went to the house and almost immediately put out an officer-down call.

Lance Cpl. Steve Sluder of the Highway Patrol responded from regional headquarters in Greenwood, about 12 miles away. He and another officer grabbed the fatally wounded man and sped off.

"We had to help him," Sluder said. "We had to get in quick as possible."

It appeared Ouzts was shot by a rifle at some distance, state Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said.

Wilson was unaccounted for; the second deputy who was not identified escaped uninjured, Goodwin said.

Ouzts, whose first great-grandchild was born three months ago, had worked in the magistrate's office for several years, his son Chris Ouzts said.

"He was a wonderful family man and a good Christian man," his son told the Anderson Independent-Mail. "He loved everybody, and anybody will tell you that he always had a smile."

One of the favorite parts of his father's job was working in the same building as his wife of 40 years, Jean Ouzts, Chris Ouzts said.

As daylight faded, an armored vehicle passed in front of the house. A voice came over a loudspeaker and urged those inside to leave the home. "Please give up. We don't want anyone else to get hurt," the voice said. "We told you we are not going to leave. We want you to come out."

Police did not know how many people were inside the house. Several crashes could be heard coming from the home about an hour after dusk. About 8:30 p.m., a quick burst of flames lit up the silent night sky.

Soon afterward, emergency vehicles with sirens flashing approached the home. WHNS-TV, Channel 21, in Greenville showed footage of officers with flashlights storming the home. At about 8:50 p.m., about half a dozen shots were heard, followed three minutes later with several bursts of gunfire.

Neighbor Gene Land said Bixby was angry because the state planned to take some of his land to widen the highway. Land said Bixby had been living in the house with his mother and father for more than 10 years.

"Some days he was a good guy, some days he was moody," Land said.

A clash between Department of Transportation workers and someone at the house Dec. 4 led police to go to the home Monday, DOT spokesman Pete Poore said Monday evening.

"The work was approaching that location," Poore said. He said agency workers were putting up stakes showing where the state's right of way was when someone from the house came outside and told them to take up the stakes.

Poore said he didn't know what was said but "that was the incident that precipitated the law enforcement visit today."