Kim Lee Long was intoxicated when he died in a gunfight with an Anson County deputy last November, an autopsy report confirms.
The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s office released the autopsy and toxicology reports to the Anson Record last month.
Long, 48, of Gastonia, was fatally shot by then-Sgt. Donald Jenks when the deputy responded to a domestic violence complaint on Stanback Ferry Ice Plant Road in Wadesboro Nov. 6.
“Deputy Jenks responded to the area after receiving a 911 call from the estranged wife of Kim Long alleging a domestic violence encounter with Long,” Audria Bridges, special agent in charge with the State Bureau of Investigation, said in an email the week after the shooting.
The SBI investigated the shooting, which is standard procedure for shootings involving law enforcement officers.
The results show that Long was intoxicated at the time of his death. The autopsy determined that Long suffered gunshot wounds to his chest, abdomen and right forearm. Of those, the chest wound would have been “rapidly lethal” and the abdomen wound “potentially lethal,” according to the report.
The deputy responded to a call about a domestic violence situation at the Wilco Hess gas station in Wadesboro and a BOLO (Be on the Look Out) was issued for Long’s car, according to the investigation report from the office of the chief medical examiner.
“Officer sighted the car and followed it until he was told by city police to stop the car,” the report states. “When decedent stopped car just outside Wadesboro city limits, gun fire was exchanged between the decedent and officer. Officer called in on radio — shots fired and needed backup. EMS and additional officers including an SBI officer arrived to [the] scene, finding decedent lying on [the] ground with multiple GSW’s (gun shot wounds).”
Investigators thought Long may have been wearing dogtags that could identify him, but found that the chain he was wearing instead held a leather pouch with a Social Security card, locksmith license, passport card and a “gold color metal badge that read ‘Millennium 2000 U.S. Immigration Inspector,’” which was later found to be fake, according to the report.
At the time of his death, Long had pending charges of violating a domestic violence protective order in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties and charges of misdemeanor assault on a female and interfering with emergency communications in Gaston County, court records show.
Sheriff Landric Reid said that Jenks is no longer with the sheriff’s office, but that his departure was unrelated to the November shooting.
The case is being reviewed by District Attorney Reece Saunders. Saunders said he is still reviewing the file and that ballistics testing is still being completed, but that he does not comment on pending cases.
A call to the SBI about the investigation was not returned by press deadline.
Reach reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.