An Ararat man was safely taken into custody late Wednesday following an armed standoff with authorities, according to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith.
He said deputies received a call from the Willis Gap community around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27. The caller alleged that an armed man inside a home was making threats.
Patrick County Sheriff’s Sgt. Winfred Hill and deputy Mike Harris responded to the scene and found a man holding a gun to his head, threatening suicide. The deputies negotiated with the man and used de-escalation techniques for more than an hour as they tried to persuade the man to put the weapon down, Smith said.
Additional deputies were summoned, according to the sheriff, and the decision was made to use less-lethal force to subdue and disarm the man.
Sheriff’s Lt. Dustin Foley fired a single bean bag round at the man, which gave authorities a split second to gain physical control of the weapon, Smith said, and added that the weapon was loaded with a round in the chamber when inspected before it was taken as evidence.
The man was taken into emergency custody and transported to Sovah Hospital in Martinsville for help. No one was injured during the incident.
The man’s name and address are not being released, partly because mental health concerns are protected by HIPAA confidentiality protocols, Smith said, adding that the man also was not charged in connection with the incident.
Smith said deputies deal with dangerous incidents such as this one on a routine basis. He added that his personnel are trained in de-escalation and negotiation techniques.
“These skills are imperative in our line of work, but they don’t always work,” Smith said. “We have to have the tools and training to safely bring incidents like this to a safe ending, and that is what our deputies did.”
Deputies have successfully deployed less-lethal techniques, like TASERS (Electronic Control Device) and specialized bean bag rounds fired from a designated shotgun, on dozens of occasions to diffuse violent situations, Smith said.
He added that when the decision is made to use a less-lethal weapon on an armed person, policy and training dictates a deputy who is providing lethal coverage is present at the scene.
“In a fraction of a second, a trigger can be pulled, so lethal coverage has to be in place to protect our people,” Smith said.
Patrick County has always ranked at or near the top in per capita suicides statewide, the sheriff said.
“I can’t think of anyone I would rather have on scene to deal with an armed suicidal person than our people,” Smith said in a release.
Talks have been commonplace in many localities nationally about replacing law enforcement with mental health and social workers to deal with suicidal threat calls, Smith said.
“If you can find a group of mental health counselors who want to respond to and handle what we had” that night, “I would love to meet them,” Smith said.
He noted that mental health counselors provide a critical role in getting help for those in crisis but would be a liability if on the scene at similar calls.
“We are trained to assume that a weapon is involved anytime we respond to a suicide threat call, and it is hard enough to keep yourself and the subject you are dealing with safe, much less having to worry about someone else’s safety,” Smith said.
The sheriff’s office and Piedmont Community Services work together, with the end goal of providing help to those in crisis, Smith said.
He also encouraged “anyone who is battling depression to get professional help. I don’t know anyone whose life hasn’t been affected by the suicide of a loved one.”
The professionals at Piedmont Community Services “are caring people who want to help you,” Smith said. “Give them a chance to do that.”
