(FOSTERS, AL)-- After a five-hour standoff, a suspect has died after shooting himself in his home.
The standoff took place on Sand Road, just north of Dry Creek Road in Fosters. The U.S. Marshals Task Force served a fugitive a warrant out of South Carolina, who refused to go easily.
“Units from our agency with a number of other agencies responded to the area,” Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy said. “Once we got on the scene, we began negotiations. The subject refused to come out after many hours of discussing it, trying to communicate and trying to get him out.”
Abernathy said James Robert Suttles, 56, made a number of threatening statements before shooting himself in the head.
“We actually gained entry to one of the windows using the BearCat vehicle,” he said. “The suspect then fired upon the BearCat vehicle. At that time, they continued to take some windows out. We deployed gas rounds inside the residence to try get him to come out in a peaceful manner. He actually left out of the residence after the gas was deployed, went downstairs to a basement area of the outside porch and was positioned there with a long rifle in his mouth. Officers there continued to negotiate with him for an extended period of time and the subject eventually shot himself with a self-inflicted wound.”
Emergency personnel were already positioned and were able to respond to the suspect quickly. He was transported to DCH Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
According to the Associated Press, Suttles “was wanted in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on a state warrant for harassing communications. He also faced additional warrants for burglary and property damage.”