SANDYVILLE, W.Va. — A suspect in a domestic violence incident is dead after engaging Jackson County sheriff’s deputies with a gun.
Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger said his deputies were called to a camper Thursday night in the community of Sandyville. A caller to 911 claimed shots had been fired inside the camper. When deputies arrived, the suspect in the incident refused to surrender and barricaded himself inside the camper.
“After a very lengthy period of time there were numerous attempts to get him out. There were gas rounds deployed into the camper and the suspect exited the camper with a firearm,” said Mellinger.
The man then barricaded a second time in a standoff with deputies behind a vehicle. Mellinger said they tried to subdue him at that point with a K-9, but he still refused to comply.
“The K-9 engaged the suspect and a fight over a weapon ensued. Once he shouldered a weapon toward our deputies, that’s when we sent the three rounds down range, all three striking him,” the Sheriff explained.
The three shots killed the man at the scene. Nobody else was injured.
“It’s not the outcome we all hoped for, but at the end of the day it’s an unfortunate situation and training takes over. We’re here to protect the public and that’s exactly what we were doing,” he added.
The two deputies who fired the fatal shots are on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is conducting an internal investigation and Mellinger said he had asked the West Virginia State Police to also conduct an investigation into the shooting.
The name of the suspect was not released.