Suspect dies after standoff

JEFFERSON COUNTY - A SWAT situation ended early Friday morning with the person who had been barricaded inside a home for at least six hours dead after a confrontation with the SWAT team.

The 34-year-old man died at a nearby hospital Friday morning after SWAT team members entered his mother's home and fired shots. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, shots were fired at the suspect after the SWAT team was "faced with a deadly threat."

The Jefferson County dispatched received a call Thursday at around 5:30 p.m. from a woman living in the 11300 block of West Crestline Drive, near South Simms Street and West Belleview Avenue.

"[She] referenced a disturbance in her home involving her adult son. The woman said that there were some shots fired within the residence. Deputies got here a very short time later and also witnessed shots being fired from inside the residence," Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.

Kelley says the Jefferson County SWAT team and bomb squad were sent to the home and an emergency call was sent out to roughly 175 homes in the area as a warning. Residents in the area were told to stay inside and avoid doors and windows until otherwise notified by police.

"For several hours we tried to negotiate with the suspect inside the home. The negotiations were sporadic, he would talk to us from time to time and then there wouldn't be much communication," Kelley said.

According to Kelley, the SWAT team deployed gas into the home in an attempt to encourage the suspect to come out. When that did not work, Kelley says it became clear he was not going to come out of the home for law enforcement.

The responding SWAT team entered the home and went to a part of the house where they thought the suspect would be. When the SWAT team found the suspect, Kelley says it was faced with a deadly threat directly at them and they engaged that deadly threat, causing the suspect's death.

After being shot, Kelley explained, "The suspect was removed from the home, immediately taken to the hospital where he has since died."

His name has not been released but Kelley says the sheriff's office had contact with the suspect prior to this incident.

On Friday, two investigations will continue in the area. A shooting team is looking into the circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting. A death investigation is also being conducted.