A driver plowed through a gate at a South Carolina nuclear plant Thursday night, struck barricades and then drove through a fence while attempting to hit security guards.

An hour before he crashed the exit gates at the Oconee Nuclear Station, the driver showed up at the Seneca nuclear plant before being turned away, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies were notified of the gate crashing at about 8:05 p.m.

The driver is described as a white man in a silver 2002 Toyota Camry with Arkansas tags reading 380VDR.

After the driver went through an exit gate that leads to a highway, security guards activated popup barriers that the driver struck.

The man then backed up onto a dirt road. Seeing that he was blocked in by plant security personnel, the Camry driver drove through a fence while attempting to strike the security guards, the sheriff’s office said.

From there, the driver went back through the exit gate onto the highway, before heading into a neighboring county and pulling onto the driveway of a property in Pickens.

The homeowner spotted the driver and fired a warning shot, after which the man in the Camry drove away, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Chuck James told WYFF-TV.

Possible criminal charges against the driver were not specified by the sheriff’s office, which has asked anyone with information on the driver’s location to call 911.

No security guards were injured, and Duke Energy, which operates the Oconee Nuclear Station, said the driver was not able to reach the plant itself. The plant’s reactors remain in operation.

“Duke Energy has comprehensive security plans and a well-trained security workforce in place. A vehicle entered an administrative gate, but was not able to access the plant due to our multiple layers of security,” a company spokesperson told The Associated Press.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.