Standoff in Lowndes County Ends With One Man In Custody

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A standoff in Lowndes County this morning ends with one man in custody.

This started out as a mental health commitment pickup, which means a judge has ordered treatment for a mental patient.

Lowndes County deputies have had problems with this man before.

Today, they had to call for backup.

A part of being a sheriff’s deputy that is often overlooked is administering mental health commitments.

“In fact, that’s one of the duties of the sheriffs department,” said Lowndes County Sheriff, Mike Arledge. “When they have the order from Chancery, we go and pick them up.”

Normally, only a couple of deputies are sent to enforce the commitment, but at one home at the end of Will Hairston Road in Lowndes County there have been some problems.

“We had had several time we had to come out here and had some trouble out here, so there were at least four officers that came this time,” Arledge said.

This time the man inside his grandmother’s house wasn’t going easy.

“Subject that was a violator went back into his house, barricaded himself back in the house,” described Arledge.

After deputies sized up the situation, the Lowndes County Special Response Team was called in.

“We found out that there might be some weapons in the house, so then we had to take you know, a lot of precautions because we don’t want to rush it for the safety of our officers,” the Sheriff said.

In the end, no shots were fired.

The team entered the house and brought the subject out, unharmed.

“He came out safe, and everybody safe. The officers are safe. The subject is safe, so everything went good,” Arledge said.

These pickups aren’t “routine.”

They’re only ordered if a mentally ill person refuses to take his or her medication.