A 24-year-old Roseboro man who shot at two deputies in a standoff that lasted over three hours on Sept. 16 has been released after being evaluated by mental health specialists.

The man, whose name has been withheld because of the delicate nature of the case, walked into the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office earlier this week and asked to be given back the .22-caliber rifle he used in the standoff — and he got it.

The standoff took place just over a week ago at 409 Butler Island Road in Roseboro. It was there, on Sept. 16 at 4:45 p.m., that officials were called in reference to a man threatening to kill himself.

The armed man would eventually shoot at officers and then barricade himself inside a metal building until negotiators managed to lure him out at 8:40 p.m.

Roadways in and around the Butler Island Road area were closed and homes in the area evacuated until the situation was clear at 9:15 p.m.

“What happened was a mother had went to check on the welfare of her son and discovered him sitting in a vehicle with a pipe going from the exhaust into the vehicle,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope after the incident. “She opened the car door and told him that they were going to call and get him some help. He told her that whoever came to help him, he would kill them and then kill himself.”

Within minutes, a patrol deputy and a detective, who happened to be in the area, responded to the call. “When they arrived and got out of their vehicles, they heard a gunshot,” Pope explained. “They naturally drew their weapons and made their way back to the residence and met the suspect who was holding a rifle to himself, up under his chin.”

Pope said the deputies pleaded with the man several times to put the weapon down.

“When they did it an additional time, he aimed the rifle at the patrol deputy,” said Pope. “The deputy fired once at the suspect (missing the man) and immediately took cover. The suspect ran into a metal building and hid.”

Pope said the building was an old barn that was about 18x18, covered in metal and was filled with storage materials and old furniture.

“He withdrew inside the metal building,” Pope said. “And he hid there. The deputies requested assistance and additional officers responded to the scene. Our SERT team (Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team) responded as well, since it was a barricaded subject with a rifle; our trained hostage negotiators were also on the scene. Although it was not a hostage situation, they attempted to talk with the subject to convince him to surrender.”

Pope said that by 5:30 p.m., the negotiators had already started communicating with the man to try and get him to come out of his self-inflicted prison.

It wasn’t until 8:40 p.m. when negotiators convinced him to step out of the building.

“There were several deputies that were concealed from view and one of the deputies was able to shoot the suspect with a taser when he let his guard down with the rifle,” Pope said.

The man, who was not injured after being tased, was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody under an emergency involuntary commitment and transported to Sampson Regional Medical Center.

According to officials at the Sampson County Sheriff’s Department, the man was then transported to a nearby mental health facility where he underwent a complete mental evaluation.

After completing the evaluation, the man was released five days later — no charges will be filed.

A day after his release, he walked into the Sheriff’s Office and walked out with his weapon.

“We had no reason to charge him,” said an anonymous source at the department. “We checked with the county attorney and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office and they said they could not find any legal grounds to charge him or to keep his weapon, so we had to return it.”

When asked about the issue, Noelle Tally, public information officer for t he North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, referred to N.C. General Statute 15-11.1, section B1 parts 1-4.

Part 2 of the section reads: “By ordering the firearm returned to the defendant, but only if the defendant is not convicted of any criminal offense in connection with the possession or use of the firearm, the defendant is the rightful owner of the firearm, and the defendant is not otherwise ineligible to possess such firearm.”

While law enforcement officials said they weren’t entirely satisfied with the outcome, they understand it is a law that the department has to abide by.

“Once he was legally committed, there was no legal ground to stand on because part of the incident was and is based on a mental condition, according to the law,” said the source. “There were no criminal charges filed, so we could not keep the weapon, that is the way the law is written. While it may not be fair or just, that man has his Constitutional rights, just like every other citizen and we have to honor that.”

The source said that the case is a rare one for Sampson County.

“There haven’t been too many incidents like this one. It is not with great frequency that we encounter this type of incident ... but it was a mental condition and once he was legally committed, there is not much we can do, we just have to move on and continue to do our jobs.”

While the issue is likely to raise more questions than answers, especially to lawmakers in the state, the taxpayers of Sampson County are the ones that lose — based on hourly wages, a rough estimate of the cost of the over three-hour standoff was anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 and up.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.