Police said a suspect has been taken into custody after a standoff in Dickson County where two people were allegedly held hostage.
The incident happened at a home on Claylick Road near Petty Road in White Bluff. Authorities said the standoff began just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday and lasted just over 11 hours.
Authorities said the call initially came in as a distraught man, possibly suicidal, who had two family members held at the home. That man has been identified by the Dickson County Sheriff's Office as 26-year-old James Michael England.
Once deputies arrived on the scene, one of them saw England with his grandparents. Officials confirmed the grandfather was wheelchair-bound.
Both the Dickson County Sheriff's Office and Dickson Police Department worked at the scene.
As more officers arrived on scene, they learned England had a handgun that he was allegedly pointing at his head. Negotiators worked at the scene from about 8:30 p.m. Thursday to 6:30 a.m. Friday.
"Time helped de-escalate the suspect," said Commander Eddie Breeden, of the Dickson Police Department.
Just before 7 a.m. Friday, authorities took England into custody. Officials confirmed he came outside and was uncooperative, so officers had to subdue him with a rubber bullet. Authorities said there have been prior criminal records regarding the suspect, including theft.
This was the third time in January officials responded to that home in regards to England and domestic incidents.
England doesn't live at the house, but someone who does had picked him up and brought him there.
"Obviously he was distraught, possibly suicidal, and with the actions he was doing and things that he said, he was taken away in an ambulance to be taken to the hospital," Commander Breeden said.
According to relatives of the suspect on the scene, England released his grandparents, and they were okay. Both victims were taken away in an ambulance as a precaution.
Authorities confirmed England let his grandmother go first, then his grandfather about an hour later. An hour after the grandfather's release, the suspect was arrested after tear gas deployment, which did cause some damage to a window of the home.
"We did all we could and exhausted all means to try to prevent that and talk him into coming out, but the gas did help to remove him from the residence and he didn’t comply well with the instructions given once he exited the home," said Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe.
Officials said he was facing charges of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated domestic violence assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, and violation of bond restrictions.
The suspect's relatives said they were not sure what caused the standoff, but they said he had been known to use drugs.
The investigation was ongoing.
