South Carolina man pleads guilty to ambush that killed 2 officers and wounded 5

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) — A 79-year-old South Carolina man has avoided a possible death sentence by agreeing to plead guilty to ambushing police officers at his home in 2018. Frederick Hopkins killed two of the officers and wounded five others in Florence County. Hopkins court appearance was unannounced Thursday and reporters following the widely publicized case were not in the courtroom in Aiken County, some 120 miles from Florence. Hopkins will be sentenced later, but his attorney Boyd Young told media outlets after the hearing that prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the table. Hopkins would face 30 years to life in prison for murder.