Fire guts office days after courthouse arson

LANCASTER --- Officials were investigating a suspicious fire that gutted the prosecutor's office in this rural county Thursday, three days after an arsonist torched the historic courthouse just a half-block away.

Police warned residents in this city of 8,300 people to be on the lookout for a dangerous suspect.

Nobody was injured in either fire, the latest of which started shortly after 4 a.m. in the prosecutor's office in a one-story brick building that houses several law offices in Lancaster's small downtown, authorities said.

Police Capt. Harlean Howard said witnesses to the fires have been interviewed but urged more to come forward. She also said experience shows the suspect will likely follow the investigation closely in media reports and in conversations.

The 180-year-old Lancaster County Courthouse, designed by Washington Monument creator Robert Mills, sustained heavy damage in a blaze Monday that officials believe was intentionally set.

Randy Biggs, supervisor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Thursday's fire also was arson. Capt. Howard would only say the latest fire was considered suspicious.

Investigators say little on shooting of deputy

SMOAKS --- Investigators remained tight-lipped Thursday as they questioned several people in the shooting death of a Colleton County deputy.

No one has been charged in the death of Dennis Compton, who was killed early Wednesday as he responded to a burglar alarm at an empty house.

A man considered a person of interest in the shooting was taken into custody in neighboring Dorchester County, Sheriff Ray Nash told news outlets. But Sheriff Nash did not identify the man or say whether he faces charges. Officials with the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office did not return several phone calls Thursday from The Associated Press.

-- Edited from wire reports