Myrtle Beach Police Captain Kevin Heins says a man who was at the beach access on 65th Avenue North Wednesday afternoon with a rifle is in police custody, and will undergo a medical evaluation to determine if he'll be charged.
Around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday the Myrtle Beach Police Department received a call a man was on the beach with a rifle. Police evacuated the area and secured a two block perimeter, blocking off the public while the department's C.I.N.T. (Critical Incident Negotiation Team) and negotiators spoke with the man.
"Our dispatchers did a great job of talking with him and told him what we wanted him to do and that was it," Heins said.
Heins adds police had their guns drawn at the scene.
"We have officers pointed with weapons at him partially for our protection and the public's protection as well as his," he said.
Witnesses Merritt Scheller was at the beach, which is primarily around residential homes with her dad.
"We heard a pop and my dad said, 'Oh my God don't look!' and so I looked. The man is in the water kneeling towards the houses with what looks like a rifle pointed at his throat."
It was a frightening moment, Scheller adds.
