Woman shoots and kills ex-boyfriend who kidnapped her, coroner says

A woman shot and killed her ex-boyfriend Friday morning after he allegedly kidnapped her, Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said.

Rodney Nixon, 36, died of a gunshot wound at a Marathon gas station on U.S. 29 South near Starr in Anderson County, Shore said.

“The single shot went into his chest, struck his heart, and he died there on the scene,” Shore said.

Nixon, of Anderson, allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home on Grady Hall Road around 6:30 a.m. and assaulted a man who was there, Shore said.

Nixon then kidnapped the woman but Nixon’s vehicle stalled near Broad Mill Road, Shore said.

Nixon and the woman went to a nearby home and asked a man to drive the two to his car and give it a jump start, Shore said.

“The homeowner agreed to do that, and he lets them get into the back seat of his car and puts the jumper cables up front,” Shore said. “He’s going to drive back to where their car broke down, but when he backs out of the driveway, he (Nixon) pulls a gun out and says, ‘Just keep driving.’”

The man told Nixon he didn’t have much gas, and Nixon agreed to let him stop at the gas station, Shore said.

Nixon got out of the vehicle to pump gas, and the woman got control of the gun, shooting Nixon, who collapsed and died at the station, Shore said.

“She fired while he was outside pumping the gas,” Shore said.