COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Authorities say they won’t charge a suspect with killing a Georgia man in a South Carolina parking lot because he acted in self-defense, but they are charging him with a kidnapping and robbery that led to the shooting.
Richland County deputies said Sultan Battle robbed a woman he had arranged to have sex with at a Columbia motel early Friday.
Authorities say the woman called 30-year-old James Copeland III of Cumming, Georgia, who found Battle in a McDonald’s parking lot and pulled a gun, demanding the return of the woman’s cash and cellphone.
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Deputies said in a statement that Battle then pulled his own gun, killing Copeland.
While prosecutors ruled Copeland’s killing self-defense, they did charge Battle with armed robbery and kidnapping. It wasn’t known if he had a lawyer.
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