Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Gary Whitten fatally shot after alleged murder of mother, ex-girlfriend

 

LANDRUM—The man who was fatally shot by police in Landrum on Wednesday, January 17, has been identified as Gary Pratt Whitten, 36, of Taylors, S.C. Two women allegedly murdered by Whitten in Greenville County earlier the same day have also been identified.

The double-homicide investigation in Greenville County led officials to Kirby Street in Landrum, where Whitten was located. Multiple deputies fired their weapons on Whitten when he exited a mobile home brandishing a firearm, according to statements from Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. Whitten died on the scene. No deputies were injured during the shooting.

Officials were able to pinpoint Whitten’s location to Kirby St. using license plate cameras.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, emergency personnel were dispatched to a house fire on Millebrooke Circle in Greenville County. After firemen were able to extinguish the fire, investigators found two deceased females inside the home.

Those women have been identified as 56-year old Kelli Whitten, the suspect’s mother, and 55-year old Anissa Henderson.

Both had multiple blunt-force traumatic head injuries and thermal burns, although their official cause of death is still being investigated.

Officials say Henderson and Gary Whitten had been in a relationship, and Henderson filed a domestic violence complaint against Whitten in December. He was arrested on these charges and then was released on bond earlier this month. Wearing an ankle monitor was one of Whitten’s bond conditions prior to release, officials say.

Around the same time officials were dispatched to the house fire, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office also received a tamper alert to Whitten’s ankle monitor, which he had reportedly cut off before stealing a car from the residence and leaving the scene.

“I’m thankful for the law enforcement we have in both of these counties,” said Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger in a press conference regarding the investigation. “They took an unbelievable crime scene that started in Greenville and did their job as quickly as anybody could expect.”

Clevenger also stated that he doesn’t know a reason why Whitten would be in the Landrum area after committing the crime in Greenville County. Clevenger says he was able to use fingerprint data in the national crime database to identify Gary Whitten.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the double-homicide while the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has been requested to investigate the officer-involved shooting. SLED will be releasing a critical incident community briefing video on March 2.