Child rescued after two-hour standoff in Starkville
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – At 2:22 a.m. on Thursday, August 8, law enforcement surrounded a unit at Brookville Garden Apartments, 305 Everglade Avenue, in Starkville, because of reports of a man, armed with a knife and handgun, fighting a female outside.
33-year-old Tyrez Wade, of Hattiesburg, ran to a second-floor unit when officers arrived and barricaded the door with a four-year-old child inside.
For more than two hours, Starkville PD negotiated with the suspect before sending in the S.W.A.T. team.
“S.W.A.T. successfully rescued the child, and took Mr. Wade into custody,” said Sergeant Brandon Lovelady with Starkville Police Department.
Wade sits in the Oktibbeha County Jail and is charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, simple assault, and disorderly conduct; failure to comply.
This is not his first run-in with the law.
He also has previous burglary convictions.
Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard said in cases like this, effective crisis intervention training plays a vital role in a successful outcome.
“The goal of any time our Special Weapons and Tactics team is deployed is to save a life or minimize the amount of energy and effort that it takes to bring to a successful conclusion, you’re only gonna do that by challenging yourself in training, and total credit to the men and women that were out there,” Ballard said.
It was a joint effort with law enforcement and first responders, and Ballard said good communication among all the agencies on the scene played a huge role.
“The Starkville Fire Department was able to provide us specialty equipment to get up at the window levels, clear floors, and able to get in through the barricades,” Ballard said.
Pafford EMS was on standby and Oktibbeha County 911 was able to relay information to ensure every department was on the same page.
Ballard said even though these things don’t happen every day, his officers train hard to be prepared when they do.
“If I had to stress, I would say professionalism and patience were key ingredients in the success of this incident,” Ballard said. “This was a rarity, but it doesn’t take but one to go bad. And it will scar your department for a long time. In our organization, we often talk about 98% of the things you can do with very little training. It’s the 2% that you need a high level of training.
There were no injuries.
Ballard said they will also be doing more domestic violence education within the department.
The investigation is still open.
Anyone with additional information should contact the Starkville Police Department or Golden Triangle CrimeStoppers.
