**Update 2:00 p.m.**
Chief Deputy Joel Hill with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office says Jerry Case has been charged in the Saturday incidents. Warrants haven’t been served since he is hospitalized at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. Case's charges are 4 counts of kidnapping, 1 count of assault and battery with intent to kill on a deputy, and 1 count of assault with intent to kill on a deputy. Case remains at Spartanburg Regional under armed guard.
At last report at noon Monday Case was in fair condition.
Saturday
A kidnapping suspect with a long criminal history has been shot and a Cherokee County Sheriff's deputy wounded after a shootout in Cherokee County Saturday morning.
Jerry Douglas Case, 52, was shot and wounded after a shootout with Cherokee County Sheriff's deputies in a wooded area at the intersection of Highway 18 and Interstate 85. News Channel 7 has learned that Case was paroled June 5, 2008 by the North Carolina Department of Corrections after receiving the death penalty in 1986 for the murder of a taxi cab driver and later had his sentence commuted to life in prison in 1992 by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Investigators said Case held a man, his daughter and two young children hostage Friday night in Gaston County and later kidnapped them. According to a press release issued early Saturday by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Case drove to Cherokee County and stopped at the Kangaroo Gas Station, located at 403 Shelby Highway, near Gaffney. After Case went inside the convenience store presumably to pay for gas, the four people managed to escape in the vehicle Case was driving and call for help. Officers arrived on scene and Case fled into a wooded area near the store as they began tracking him. Case then allegedly fired several shots at officers, striking one in the leg. Officers returned fire several times striking Case.
Case was air lifted to Spartanburg Regional Hospital and is currently in critical condition, according to a hospital spokesperson. The officer received minor injuries and did not require medical attention.
News Channel 7 has learned that Case's lengthy criminal background history dates back to 1974 and includes convictions for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, assaulting a policeman, escape and breaking and entering.
Gaston County deputies are interviewing the victims and kidnapping charges are pending. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the shooting.
Case is in serious condition at Spartanburg Regional Hospital.
Solicitor Trey Gowdy says kidnapping and assualt and battery with intent to kill charges may be filed against Case on Monday.
Amy Wood's blog
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