COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Richland County Sheriff's Department has confirmed to News19 that a woman accused of holding a person at knife-point at the Richland County Judicial Center is not in custody despite being confronted by deputies that day.
The sheriff's department said that it is still searching for a woman now identified as Latasha Boyd after she allegedly came up behind another woman and grabbed her while also keeping her from moving away.
A witness getting off the elevator, according to the initial report, was the first to notice that Boyd was also holding a knife to the victim's neck.
Deputies were later called to remove Boyd from the courthouse, with one deputy not initially seeing the knife but a second one spotting it and demanding that she hand over the now-closed knife. That deputy was pointing a stun gun at her at the time, the report states.
The overall charge listed on the report was felony aggravated assault with a "lethal cutting instrument."
That charge has since been upgraded to first-degree assault and battery, kidnapping, and carrying a concealed weapon in a posted area.
What's unclear at this point, however, is why she's now on the run. The sheriff's department has since told News19 that Boyd isn't in custody - and may not have been at all - for the incident that occurred that day.
The sheriff's department confirmed that they are looking for her and that she was not arrested. No details have been provided regarding what happened after the police report narrative ends.
The department, however, did release a statement regarding the overall security breach suggesting that the process of securing the grounds is actually a team effort between the sheriff's department and the Clerk of Court's Office. It goes on to suggest that while the sheriff's department is responsible for manpower, the clerk handles all maintenance and equipment in the building.
"The Sheriff's department will continue to request security enhancements so that incidents like this may be prevented in the future," the statement said.
