Seven police men were shot at, and one fatally, after a suspect opened fire on them as they attempted to serve a search warrant in South Carolina, U.S. on Wednesday.

The suspect fired on police officers from inside his home just outside of Florence, South Carolina,  around 4 pm local time, striking three of them, officials said. And the suspect continued to fire as officers from other departments arrived to assist. The wounded were evacuated after which police drove in with an armored vehicle, while the suspect barricaded himself inside, along with an unspecified number of children.

After a standoff of about two hours, the suspect, was arrested. The suspect had a vantage point of several hundred meters, officials said. “These officers went there unknowing the firepower this suspect had,” Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone told reporters, his eyes wet. “He had an advantage. The officers couldn’t get to the ones that were down.”

The officer who was killed was from the Florence Police Department. The shooting occurred outside the city of Florence, in the northeastern part of South Carolina. The region, known as the Pee Dee, was heavily affected by recent flooding from Hurricane Florence.

President Donald Trump and South Carolina lawmakers offered prayers for victims. "My thoughts and prayers are with the Florence County Sheriff's Office and the Florence Police Department tonight, in South Carolina. We are forever grateful for what our Law Enforcement Officers do 24/7/365," the President wrote on social media.

As Florence deals with this shocking incident, it is not the only incident of gun violence in U.S. on this day that claimed one life. Ohio, Oklahoma saw two separate instances each in which four people in total are dead. Through the nine months of 2018, 11,116 Americans have died in the U.S. due to gun violence.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 04, 2018 08:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).