Jonathan Russell Saylor, age 36, was convicted on Friday, March 27, 2026, by a Lexington County jury for a shooting that took place at a West Columbia hotel in 2023.

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The jury convicted Saylor of two counts of Attempted Murder, Shooting into a Building while occupied, Possession of a Machine Gun, and Possession of Methamphetamine. Circuit Court Judge Shawn Graham presided over the two-week long trial that began on Monday, March 16, 2026, and sentenced Saylor to 25 years in prison on the Attempted Murder charges. All of the sentences will run concurrently. Under South Carolina law, Attempted Murder is classified as a violent, most serious, and “no parole” offense.

Deputy Solicitor Rhonda Patterson and Assistant Solicitor Russell Parker handled the prosecution of this case for the office. The investigation was conducted by the West Columbia Police Department with assistance from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the Lexington County Police Department, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

On January 17, 2023, around 12:35 p.m., West Columbia Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Hilton Inn and Gardens located on McSwain Drive in the West Columbia area of Lexington County. When officers made contact with Saylor, he refused to leave the hotel room and began making deadly threats to the officers. Saylor racked his gun and began shooting into the hotel towards the hallway where the officers were standing and towards an occupied hotel room.

The testimony at trial revealed Saylor told the first responding officers that he did not have to leave the room although it was past check out. The hotel manager requested Saylor and his girlfriend leave the property due to the domestic disturbance that had taken place. Once the officers attempted to get inside the room with the permission of the hotel manager, Saylor began making threats of deadly harm and racked his AR style machine gun.

A crisis negotiator from the West Columbia Police Department attempted to de-escalate the situation. However, this attempt proved unsuccessful as Saylor continued to make threats to shoot the officers and began firing multiple rounds inside the hotel.

SLED agents responded to the scene with blue lights and sirens activated. As one of the SLED agents pulled into the parking lot of the hotel with his blue lights activated, Saylor responded by firing three rounds into the SLED agent’s truck. The SLED agent fired back, striking Saylor once in the upper left hip.

For several hours, SLED crisis negotiators attempted to persuade Saylor to surrender peacefully. However, he remained barricaded inside the hotel room until 7:10 p.m. when a K-9 was released to capture him. Once Saylor’s hotel room was searched, officers recovered the weapon and twenty-five (25) spent shell casings consistent with being fired from the recovered gun. Methamphetamine was also located in the room. Saylor’s firearm was classified as a machine gun due to its capability to shoot multiple rounds with one trigger pull.

During sentencing, two of the officers targeted by Saylor addressed the Court expressing how this was a lifechanging event for them personally and as law enforcement officers.

Saylor has been transported to the South Carolina Department of Corrections to serve his prison sentence.