What led to chase, standoff that ended with suspect killing himself?

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - There are still several questions on how a deadly high-speed chase played out on I-20 in Aiken.

An answer News 12 did get from the Aiken County Coroner’s Office is that the suspect is 43-year-old Robert Johnson.

Deputies say Johnson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the chase.

News 12 spoke with a mother who had to stay at work for an extra hour waiting for her daughter who was stuck in the traffic to pick her up.

“She said mom there’s a bad wreck right before and traffic is at a stand still. So she FaceTimed me and I could just like see, you know, like the sirens and stuff. Then I saw a big like SWAT truck,” said Tisha Mack, assistant store manager at Circle K.

Aiken County Sheriff’s office says the police chase started at mile marker 25 and ended at Mile Marker 9.

“The traffic started getting heavier and heavier and heavier flowing,” said Mack.

She said people were coming into the gas station and talking about the incident on I-20 on Wednesday night.

“Everybody was kind of like scared. They were coming in talking about it and I was like I know my baby is stuck in there, she is stuck in traffic and their kids was also stuck in there a little longer than mine,” said Mack.

This is an active investigation and we are still working to figure out why the chase began.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and Aiken County Coroner’s Office are assisting with the investigation.

The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect threw drugs out of the window during the chase.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.