Sheriff’s investigators and area business owners stand outside the Sampson County Public Works Department Tuesday morning, watching for signs that a standoff on Fontana Street, at the Sheriff’s Office, had ended. Both sides of Commerce, at its intersection with U.S. 701, was packed with people who were prevented from going to work because of the standoff.

Sheriff’s investigators and area business owners stand outside the Sampson County Public Works Department Tuesday morning, watching for signs that a standoff on Fontana Street, at the Sheriff’s Office, had ended. Both sides of Commerce, at its intersection with U.S. 701, was packed with people who were prevented from going to work because of the standoff.

<p>Sheriff’s vehicles block the entrance to Commerce Street, at the intersection of U.S. 701, Tuesday morning, keeping people away from a standoff that was occurring further down the road at the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office. A 47-year-old man, who had barricaded himself in a vehicle armed with a rifle, has been arrested.</p>

Sheriff’s vehicles block the entrance to Commerce Street, at the intersection of U.S. 701, Tuesday morning, keeping people away from a standoff that was occurring further down the road at the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office. A 47-year-old man, who had barricaded himself in a vehicle armed with a rifle, has been arrested.

An early morning standoff with Sampson County Sheriff’s deputies, in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Department, ended safely Tuesday morning, with a Garland man in custody, charged with causing the incident.

The Sampson Independent broke the news on its social media page after the situation was under control and the suspect captured.

Jed Patrick Hannigan, 47, 805 Wrights Bridge Road, Garland was taken into custody some two hours after he barricaded himself in a vehicle in the Sheriff’s Department parking lot, refusing to comply with officers’ commands.

Capt Marcus Smith said Hannigan was charged with two felony counts assault on a government official with a deadly weapon, two counts communicating threats, one count resist, delay and obstruct a public officer, one count of possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance and one count possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was still being processed at the Detention Center this morning so no bond had been issued.

Hannigan reportedly went to the Sheriff’s Department just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, entering the parking lot with a rifle. Deputies, Smith said, quickly confronted the suspect, who made verbal threats indicating his intent to kill law enforcement officers.

Hannigan, Smith said, fled to his vehicle after making the threats, barricading himself in and refusing to comply with officers commands.

“Deputies immediately secured the area and began negotiations, working for nearly two hours to resolve the situation,” Smith wrote in a release about the incident.

“Ultimately, the suspect surrendered without further incident and was taken into custody.”

Many Clinton-area residents were awakened to the sound of sirens Tuesday morning and quickly took to social media to question what was going on, some even pointing to a large crowd surrounding the Sampon County Public Works Department and asking “what is going on at public works?”

That crowd only got larger as authorities were notified of the standoff and made their way to Commerce Street at the intersection of U.S. 701, blocking traffic to prevent travel down the road to Fontana Street, where the Sheriff’s Department is located.

Similar activity was going on along N.C. 24 near the Sheriff’s Department, where roads were blocked off because of safety concerns and to keep people from traveling near where the standoff was taking place.

Smith said no shots were fired during the standoff and no one was injured.

“Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management personnel acted swiftly and professionaly to ensure the safey of the public and all involved,” Smith noted in his release.