WESTON, W.Va. – State Police are releasing more details about the standoff with a patient at the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston on Monday.
Trooper First Class Ryan Watson said Brandon McGoye, 27, of Huntington, made threats against the White House, the Pentagon and other federal buildings. At one point, he told troopers he had people staged in front of police facilities in Lewis County, prepared to attack on his command.
“It just continued to spiral out of control over the next several hours,” Watson said Tuesday on MetroNews Midday. “He kept calling in over the next several hours and the threats just kept going on and on.”
It is not standard policy to make arrests in medical facilities while individuals are receiving treatment. However, after hours of negotiations, police were left with no other option. Trooper Watson said that while officers were obtaining the necessary warrant the suspect armed himself. Fortunately, he was taken into custody without incident inside the facility, Watson said.
“While i was obtaining the paperwork to do so he armed himself with a long bolt from a piece of equipment at the hospital and was making threats to harm the staff and kill the patients,” Watson said.
Watson said as a precaution they notified other agencies, federal and local that could have part of the threats McGoye made.
“The FBI was notified,” Watson said. ” There was no credible threat found to the public or any federal buildings, or our buildings for that matter.”
Prior to Monday’s incident, McGoye was reportedly involved in several confrontations with staff over the weekend. Watson said the investigation is ongoing and authorities are continuing to follow up on information related to McGoye. Court records show he faced a battery charge in Lewis County in 2016, which was later dismissed.
“He had attacked some staff and this is what stemmed all of these actions,” Watson said. ” His request was to go to jail, that’s what he wanted.”
The information is still being verified, but it appears McGoyle was transferred to Weston after some reports of violence in a Huntington group home.
“He was actually in a group home from understanding and due to some violent things he carried out in the group home they placed him in the William R. Sharpe Jr. Psychiatric Hospital,” Watson said.
State police continue their investigation.
McGoye is in the Central Regional Jail on $1 million bail.