{"id":215443,"date":"2025-10-26T18:08:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=215443"},"modified":"2025-10-27T06:13:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:13:42","slug":"will-the-south-carolina-sovereign-citizen-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/will-the-south-carolina-sovereign-citizen-shootout\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bixby Shootout That Shook Abbeville, SC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span>Estimated reading time: <\/span>12<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A routine highway project, a family that rejected the state, and a day of gunfire that left two officers dead. Here is how the Bixby shootout in Abbeville unfolded and why it still matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How America Got Here: Rules, Permits, Control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I consider myself a fairly traditional American rugged individualist. I don\u2019t expect a great deal from my government other than some decent road maintenance and a bunch of dead terrorists. Beyond that, I just want to be left alone. Stuff like intrusive building codes, draconian speed limits, and gun control of any sort just makes me itch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Abbeville
If I could pick one thing I’d like my government to do for me, it would be to just leave me alone. I like being me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

American Society: A Slow Tightening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There has indeed been a most insidious transformation in modern American society. When I was a kid, Americans were pretty much free to make their way in life. Nowadays, however, you can\u2019t do anything without some kind of silly government writ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not hyperbole. You can\u2019t practice medicine, teach school, build a house, or cut hair. You need a special government permit to drive a car, sell real estate, or install showerheads for money. Do you think you own property? Try not paying your taxes for a couple of years and see who owns all your stuff. Like some kind of creeping fungus, the government has infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives. Akin to the proverbial boiled frog, this process has been so relentless and insidious over time that we were all enmired in it before we realized it was happening. That\u2019s not what the Founding Fathers intended for our great nation, not by a long shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"veteran
Soldiers don’t serve the government. Their loyalty is to the US Constitution and the ideals it personifies. I do miss this so…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rules We Live By: The Oath and Reality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I first donned the uniform of my nation\u2019s military, I did not swear allegiance to the government, the President, or even the people. I promised to support and defend that document, the US Constitution, and all that it represented. That\u2019s a big deal to me. I lost friends for that moldy old piece of vellum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I do genuinely believe all of those things. However, I am also a pragmatist. I will continue to renew my medical license every year. I will pay my income taxes on time, and do whatever it takes to remain in the good graces of the BATF. While I may not like all these rules, that is not a hill I am willing to die on. However, not everybody looks at life the same way I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The People: Meet the Bixby Family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arthur Walls Bixby was born in 1929. He lived in Warren, New Hampshire, with his wife Rita and sons Steven and Dennis. The Bixbys never did much care for government involvement in any aspect of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arthur was briefly jailed for failure to pay an $850 judgment. Rita inundated the local courthouse with frivolous lawsuits. In one case, she tried to gain title to land owned by her neighbors. This initiative failed, but Rita still staged a sheriff\u2019s sale in which she attempted to sell the parcel anyway. When pressed, the Bixbys claimed to be sovereign citizens over whom the traditional courts held no power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Abbeville
Abbeville, SC, looks like a pretty nice place. Indeed, it is a pretty nice place. However, it once had some fairly eclectic residents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Things just kind of snowballed from there. In 1992, Steven was convicted of drunk driving. Of course, he didn\u2019t have a driver\u2019s license. Those rules didn\u2019t apply to him. Eventually, Arthur, Rita, and Steven moved to Abbeville, South Carolina, and started a new life there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Setting: A Highway, An Easement, A Spark<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Bixbys set up on a modest parcel of land that just happened to be bordered by South Carolina Highway 72. Back in 1960, the previous owner of the property, one Haskell Johnson, had granted the state of South Carolina an easement authorizing the state to expand the right-of-way slightly if ever they should need to widen the highway. The documents supporting this easement were stored in a vault at the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) headquarters rather than the local courthouse. While legally permissible, this fact became a really big deal for the Bixbys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SCDOT
I know quite a few road workers myself. With few exceptions, they just want to provide for their families and help us get from place to place. (Photo\/SCDOT.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the early 2000s, SCDOT decided that it was time to widen Highway 72 from the Georgia state line to a spot just east of Abbeville. This project included the portion of the road that bordered the Bixby property. Doing so would consume roughly ten feet of dirt along the route. The Bixbys were having none of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appreciating that the Bixby clan was unhappy with this proposed arrangement, SCDOT officials offered to sell them additional footage for the nominal consideration of a single dollar. However, by this point, the Bixbys were ready to make a stand. When SCDOT crews put out planning stakes, Arthur Bixby pulled them up and threw them into the highway. At the same time, the Bixbys began accumulating weapons and ammunition for a showdown with the evil South Carolina road people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fuse Is Lit: First Shots On Highway 72<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of 8 December 2003, SCDOT workers reported to their worksite only to be threatened by Arthur and Steven Bixby. They wisely retreated and notified the local sheriff\u2019s office. When Abbeville County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Daniel Wilson reported to investigate, Steven Bixby shot him through the left armpit with a 7mm Magnum bolt-action rifle, narrowly missing his vest. The geometry of the wound was such that the cop was shot with his arm raised while knocking on the door. No matter, no soft body armor on Planet Earth could have withstood that. Deputy Wilson was 37 and the father of five young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bolt
Bolt-action rifles have been a thing since the 19th century. However, they remain effective weapons even today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bixbys then dragged the desperately wounded cop inside, cuffed his hands behind his back, and inexplicably read him his Miranda rights. Sometime over the next fourteen hours, Deputy Wilson succumbed to his wounds. When the dispatcher was unable to make contact with the Deputy, State Constable Donnie Ouzts was deployed to check on him. When 62-year-old Constable Ouzts climbed out of his car, Steven Bixby shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. That\u2019s when the Bixbys’ world went all pear-shaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinned Down: The Abbeville Bixby Standoff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Arthur and Steven Bixby were busy murdering police officers, Rita Bixby was holed up at Steven\u2019s apartment with her other son, Dennis. She had been talking with the Bixby boys on the phone. Rita inexplicably called the South Carolina Attorney General\u2019s office and left the following voice message: \u201cThis is Rita Bixby, and I live at 4 Union Church Road…I’ve talked to you before, and they have; the state has decided they were going to come in and take our property. My husband and my son are there and there is a shootout going on because they’re not going to take our land. No one has approached us and asked us if they could negotiate or anything. They just simply came onto our land and started taking it and there is a shootout there.\u201d She then began threatening to shoot random people in the apartment complex if the police harmed her husband or Steven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"law
When the Bixbys got all kinetic with local Law Enforcement, the cops did what the cops do. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Law Enforcement Answered Fire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This next bit was pretty predictable. The cops staged an armored vehicle as well as a helicopter, and some 200 heavily-armed officers. Friends of the Bixbys tried to talk them down to no avail. In response, Arthur and Steven Bixby poured fire at the cops surrounding their home. The lawmen gave as well as they got, having to be resupplied with ammunition several times during the day. It was later estimated that, between the cops and the two lunatics in the house, tens of thousands of rounds were expended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"crime
When the cops finally cleared the Bixby home, what they found was just a mess. (Photo\/Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Late in the afternoon, a SWAT team finally got Rita to give up. Two hours later, the SWAT guys at the Bixby homestead breached the front door with an armored vehicle. They dispatched a robot that was thwarted from entry by a large collection of debris the Bixbys had stacked behind the door. The robot did produce a video of Deputy Wilson\u2019s lifeless body, still handcuffed to the floor. The SWAT guys were able to get close enough to retrieve the body, but were unable to reach Arthur and Steven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, it was getting late. With all friendlies accounted for and about a zillion rounds exchanged, I rather suspect the cops were getting justifiably weary of fiddling with these two crazy people. As a result, they just pumped the place full of tear gas and let that simmer for a while. Eventually, Steven had had enough and gave himself up. His dad was badly wounded and was medevac\u2019d to a local hospital, where he eventually stabilized. The cops recovered a total of nine firearms, including Deputy Wilson\u2019s sidearm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE HERE: The 2012 Empire State Building Shooting: Cop Carnage<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aftermath: Trials, Diagnoses, Sentences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you might imagine, the state threw the book at the Bixbys. However, Arthur carried a previous diagnosis of schizophrenia. Additionally, by the time the trials got cranked up in earnest, he was in a fairly advanced state of dementia. Arthur was committed to a mental institution, where he died of natural causes in September 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rita was sentenced to a zillion years in prison. However, she succumbed to cancer while incarcerated at the age of 79. Curiously, she died exactly a week after her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Steven
Behold Steven Bixby. This guy is just a nutjob. He’s in prison until he dies or the state kills him. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Steven Bixby: On Death Row, Strange Claims<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, Steven Bixby was sentenced to death for killing Deputy Wilson and Constable Ouzts. For the past 18 years, his case has plodded its way back and forth through the American legal system. Thus far, he has penned some 1,500 pages\u2019 worth of letters to his girlfriend. He frequently signs his missives, \u201cChaotic Patriot Steve.\u201d Were I being completely honest, the fact that he has a girlfriend is arguably the most inexplicable aspect of this whole sordid tale for me. What is she thinking? I will clearly never understand women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Bixby remains on death row in South Carolina today. South Carolina utilizes either electrocution or a firing squad to do the deed, so there aren\u2019t any concerns about the availability of lethal drugs. The South Carolina Supreme Court recently issued an indefinite stay out of concerns over whether he was sane enough to be executed. They’re not necessarily wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since he has been incarcerated, Steven Bixby has claimed that prison officials have injected him with a tracking device and that death row inmates are \u201ctraded like hogs on the stock market.\u201d Bixby also asserted that he regularly discovers divine messages in number patterns that justify his crime, that the blood found on his clothing contains the DNA of Jesus, and that crime scene photos demonstrate that an angel was present during the shootings. Wow. They walk among us…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"execution
I’ve stretched out on the deathbed at Leavenworth before. It’s a sobering experience. (Photo\/Utah Dept of Corrections)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aftermath and Empty Lot: What Remains<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Steven\u2019s mental competency hearing is slated for the summer of 2025. We’ll see how that pans out. The Bixby home was eventually bulldozed and is an empty lot today. Though I haven\u2019t checked myself, I suspect SCDOT did eventually get that highway widened.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Case File Summary \u2014 Key Facts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Location<\/th>Abbeville, South Carolina<\/td><\/tr>
Date<\/th>December 8, 2003<\/td><\/tr>
Primary Subjects<\/th>Arthur Bixby, Rita Bixby, Steven Bixby<\/td><\/tr>
Victims<\/th>Deputy Daniel Wilson, State Constable Donnie Ouzts<\/td><\/tr>
Catalyst<\/th>Highway 72 right-of-way and easement dispute<\/td><\/tr>
Arms Recovered<\/th>Nine firearms, including Deputy Wilson\u2019s sidearm<\/td><\/tr>
Outcome<\/th>Two officers killed, Steven Bixby on death row, home demolished<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pros & Cons \u2014 Lessons From The Case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n