Tammy Jolene Sanders

Deadly force

Tammy Jolene Sanders walked into the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office lobby and sat in a chair in front of the duty desk, where Deputies Rhett Fox and John McKnight were taking telephone calls and incident reports. After a few minutes, McKnight asked the visibly upset woman if she was waiting for someone. McKnight walked into the lobby to talk to Sanders. She responded by pulling a small, double-barreled pistol out of her purse and unsteadily pointing it at the deputies, who were only a few feet away. She spent the next 45 minutes slumped on the floor in a corner of the lobby before shooting herself in the head.