A man allegedly tried to ram a car through the security gates of a nuclear plant in South Carolina on Thursday night and attempted to run over security guards, authorities said.
The man allegedly drove through the exit side of the gate of the Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina on the Highway 183 side of the facility and hit the pop-up security barricades, according to a statement by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO). He then allegedly reversed and drove down a dirt road, where the security officers attempted to stop him. He allegedly tried to hit the officers, then plowed through a fence and drove through an exit where he allegedly tried to hit a security truck with a guard in it. He drove back onto Highway 183 and then into Pickens County before pulling over on a private property. Shots were then fired.
Oconee police later determined that the private property owner apparently fired the warning shots, per an update from the OCSO.
The man had allegedly driven up to the nuclear station an hour before the incident but was dismissed by security guards, per the statement. Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw named 60-year-old Doyle Wayne Whisenhunt of Lockesburg, Arkansas, as “a person of interest,” per the update. (RELATED: Guard Opens Fire After Man Busts Through Vatican Security In A Car)
The incident occurred at about 8:05 p.m., Crenshaw said during a press conference. The gate breached by the driver was the administrative check-in gate. The only shots fired were from the private property owner. Officers reportedly later located the vehicle.
Whisenhunt was reportedly declared wanted in Arkansas for drug and weapons charges on Oct. 31 and faced national extradition, Crenshaw said. It was not immediately clear if he is the suspect as the car was neither registered to Whisenhunt nor was it a stolen car. Potential charges would be “trespassing, malicious injury to property, and possibly attempted murder,” Crenshaw noted.