Standoff ends in arrest
By John Joyce
Published in News on June 1, 2015 1:46 PM
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Thomas Shelton
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was called out Sunday to a residence where an armed man inside the home refused to surrender to police following a domestic dispute.
Two negotiators and the man's wife took more than three hours to talk the suspect down peacefully.
"This was not a hostage situation," Maj. Tom Effler said. "The wife and kid were out of the house, and he was inside and refused to come out," he added.
According to a Wayne County Sheriff's Office report, Thomas Shelton, 43, and his wife, Jeshua Shelton, 35, argued inside their home at 615 Adler Lane Sunday.
Shelton, armed with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, removed the magazine from the firearm and pointed it at Mrs. Shelton while she lay in bed with the couple's 7-year-old son. A round was still chambered.
The weapon discharged and a bullet struck the headboard, the report said.
Mrs. Shelton and her son left the residence and called 911.
"It is not like he was holding them in there. He just wouldn't come out of the house," Effler said.
Shelton never threatened the officers who were there to talk him out of the house, Effler said, but he remained armed the entire time.
The standoff lasted three hours before Shelton walked out the back door of the residence and surrendered to deputies. He was taken into custody and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon with a minor present and child endangerment or abuse.
Shelton is currently being held in the Wayne County Detention Center without bond. A first appearance in Wayne County District Court has been scheduled for Shelton today.