By Carol Robinson
al.com
MACON COUNTY, Ala. — A former Alabama law enforcement officer held his girlfriend and a baby hostage for more than an hour before shooting himself in the chest.
Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson was able to negotiate the safe release of the hostages just moments before the shooting. The ex-deputy was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.
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“He said he wanted suicide by cop, and I told him we weren’t going to do that,” Brunson said. “He wanted us to kill him.”
The ordeal began just after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Brunson said he received a call that the former deputy – whose was fired about two months ago because of a domestic incident involving his girlfriend – was armed and holding the woman against her will.
The sheriff immediately headed that way, repeatedly calling the suspect on the way.
“I called this young man maybe 10 or 12 times, but he didn’t answer,” Brunson said. “When I got there, there were other officers there and he was in the house with the woman and the baby.”
“I was calling his name, and still calling his phone, telling him I was out there,” Brunson said. “Finally, he called my phone and said that he was fixing to end it all.”
“I told him, ‘No, you can’t do that,’” the sheriff said.
The negotiations lasted more than an hour.
“It felt like it was 10 hours,” he said.
“Finally, I was able to walk up to the house,” Brunson said. “I got maybe 12 feet away from the door and I asked him would he please send her out with the baby.”
“He did,” he said, “and then he shot himself.”
Once the woman exited the home with the child, Brunson said he covered her and told her to run.
“As soon as he closed the door, I heard the gunshot,” the sheriff said. “I ran in and got the other guys in and he was laying on the floor.”
The man had shot himself in the chest. The bullet exited his back.
“I don’t know how he would survive that,” Brunson said. “We worked on him, worked on him, worked on him.”
The suspect, who is former military, had been a deputy for less than a year before he was fired for the domestic dispute.
“He was a good young man,” Brunson said, “but I think he was having some issues from the military.”
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