One Howard County man dead after 15-hour standoff
A 15-hour standoff is over Friday with one man dead. The Howard County Sheriff’s Department was called out to a home on Country Road 342 just outside of Franklin at about 11:30 Thursday last night for a domestic dispute. Officials said it quickly became a standoff just after they arrived at the house.
Through public records ABC 17 News was able to confirm the man holding himself hostage was Robert Davis. Authorities said he got into an argument with his wife, from whom he was separated. Sheriff’s Department was called in to help out. The wife was able to get out safely, but Davis refused to leave and surrender to deputies.
The Howard County Sheriff’s Department along with the highway patrol and several other law enforcement agencies did everything they could to make sure nobody got hurt. The sheriff said by the time they got to the house, Davis was already threatening to kill himself with a rifle. They quickly set up a perimeter and began trying to talk to him to surrender.
“I was trying to tell him, ‘If you want to, I would be the one to come up and put the cuffs on you,’ just because he knew me and I knew him so I was kind of hoping that relationship would help,” Howard County Sheriff Mike Neal said.
Neal said he and negotiators were on the phone with Davis for hours. They were trying to get him to calm down and turn himself in. They tried several different tactics to try and make Davis come out safely. They even shot 17 rounds or tear gas into the house.
“Try to force him to come out or do whatever. That did not work and we heard a shot that was not from one of us,” Neal said.
Neal still doesn’t know exactly what made Davis snap. He said they exhausted every attempt to try and make him come out unharmed, but it wasn’t enough.
