Four South Carolina officers slain in last month

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- A Charleston police officer killed Saturday in a downtown shooting rampage was the fourth South Carolina law enforcement officer to die in the last month.

It's "a tragic reminder of what each and every one of our police officers does every day," Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said Sunday. "They put on a badge, they go to work, they put their lives on the line to protect our community."

Dennis LaPage, a police officer who was working off duty as a security guard, and nurse Anthony Pirraglia died Saturday night when a gunman went on a shooting spree following a traffic accident.

"These were two fine people whose job was public safety, public service," Riley said.

Marko Dupree Drayton, 19, of Charleston was arrested soon after the events that began shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday, police spokesman Charles Francis said.

Witnesses told police that when the driver of the vehicle that started the chain-reaction accident got out of his car, two nurses from the Medical University of South Carolina who were eating nearby approached him to see if he was injured.

The driver became agitated, reached inside his car and removed a gun and fired it at the nurses, police said.

Pirraglia, 47, was shot fatally once in the chest. The other nurse, Mandy Larson, 28, was shot in the arm and is expected to recover, Police Chief Reuben Greenberg said.

The suspect fled, and about 20 minutes later, police received a call about a shooting at another location. When they arrived, they discovered the body of LaPage, who was shot three times in the elbow, back and forehead. LaPage, a U.S. Navy veteran, had been with the police force for 10 years.

A few minutes later, a police officer saw a man matching the suspect's description near a hotel. The man fired shots at police vehicles but was taken into custody without any police gunfire, Greenberg said.

Drayton has a juvenile record, but no record of adult offenses, Greenberg said.

"This individual apparently has some kind of problems ... from things that he has said and how he's acted and the lack of concern he's indicated," Greenberg said. "I can't really explain it."

Two Beaufort County sheriff's deputies were killed in a gunfight January 8 after responding to a domestic violence call in Burton.

And an off-duty Horry County deputy was fatally shot December 29 after he stopped on his way home from work to help a couple who were arguing, The Associated Press reported.