The attack apparently was a planned assault involving at least three family members, Stewart said. Neighbors said family members who lived in the house had been upset because the state planned to take some of their land to widen the highway.

The incident began around 9 a.m. when an Abbeville County magistrate's officer whom authorities identified as 63-year-old Donnie M. Ouzts went to the home of Arthur Bixby. After other lawmen hadn't heard from the officer in several minutes, two deputies went to the home and found the officer dead.

One of the deputies, Danny Wilson, who was taken into the home, later was found dead also. The other deputy, who was not immediately identified, escaped without injury.

About 13 hours later, the standoff ended with Bixby shot at least once, Stewart said. Bixby's son, Steven, had surrendered about two hours earlier, according to Stewart.

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 her husband or son was harmed during the standoff.

Stewart said that situation had to be resolved before officers could move in on the Bixby home. Inside the house and the apartment, officers found anti-American literature, suicide notes and other items.

As officers tried to storm the home, Stewart said they were fired on with the most powerful weapons he had ever seen in his more than 30 years in law enforcement.

"I've never seen so much force," he said.

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

Neighbor Gene Land said Steven Bixby was angry because the state planned to take some of his land to widen the highway. Land, who lives about a half-mile away, 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 on Highway 72 last Thursday led to police officers going to the home on 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."

Chris Ouzts, son of the slain magistrate's officer, said his father had become a great-grandfather just three months ago. He said his father had worked in the magistrate's office for several years.

"He was a wonderful family man and a good Christian man," the younger Ouzts 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, the son said. Ouzts would visit his wife, Jean, at work every morning, even after the county moved his administrative offices to another location.

"But he still got to see Momma every day," his son said tearfully. "He saw her this morning. He took her the mail."

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