Tear gas ends 6-hour standoff

By DAN KEGLEY, Staff, and DEBRA MCCOWN, Media General News Service

A six-hour standoff Sunday morning in Saltville ended with no person hurt, but five dogs are dead, one is injured, and a man is in custody facing charges.
Saltville Police Chief Steve Surber said Tuesday that Harold Dewayne Puckett, 52, is charged with six counts of shooting a companion animal and reckless handling of a firearm, all misdemeanors.
One of the shooting charges may be withdrawn after examination showed blood on one of the dogs thought injured was not its own, according to Surber.
Surber said the incident began at 2:45 a.m. Sunday with a call placed to 911 dispatchers.
“There was an open line to 323 S. Main, but no one said anything,” Surber said. “The dispatcher could hear a gun being fired and dogs yipping in the background.”
Saltville Police officer Jamie Puckett, who is not related to the charged man, and auxiliary officer Kevin Tolbert, patched in to the call at 2:48 a.m., and heard shots inside the home, Surber said.
They arrived on scene and Officer Puckett shut down traffic on Route 91 and called for help, Surber said.
“He called me at 2:48 at my home. That was not far from my house,” Surber said.
Surber arrived at the scene at 3:01 to find two Smyth county sheriffs’ deputies there.
“We could hear more shots being fired,” Surber said, as Washington County deputies arrived at the home. “I can’t say anything was being directed toward us,” although later investigation showed two rounds from the suspect’s .22 caliber pistol exited the mobile home. “He was pop-popping shots then reloading.”
Surber said officers at the scene requested a negotiator. The suspect had asked to talk with Smyth County sheriff’s investigator and negotiator John Joannou, Surber said.
“John talked with him [from home],” Surber said. “He told him he had shot the dogs.”
Surber said Puckett changed his mind several times about coming out, finally saying he would come out, “but not without his gun.”
Then, “John lost contact,” Surber said.
Police requested an ECO, or emergency custody order, for Puckett. In the hour and a half taken by processing the request, officers on the scene, including tactical teams from both counties, heard nothing from inside the home, Surber said.
Washington County sheriff’s negotiator Capt. Jack Davidson and Joannou arrived on scene, Surber said.
Puckett’s mother, who lives next door to him, awoke and was fearful, a situation compounded by a health condition, “so we also had that to deal with,” Surber said.
Tactical officers removed her to a safe location, he said.
The ECO arrived. “We had a couple of decisions to make,” Surber said. “Storming the place, or tear gas. We’d not heard anything inside the trailer. Personally, I thought either he ran out of ammo or had taken his own life. We had to speculate.”
As the standoff neared its sixth hour, officers fired a cartridge of mild tear gas into the home. “He stood it for 35 or 45 minutes, then broke some glass out of the windows for air,” Surber said.
After stronger tear gas was fire into the home, Puckett “exited the back door with a knife,” Surber said. “The tac team shot him with a bean bag,” Surber said, and took him into custody.
Inside the home officers found four dead dogs. A wounded dog died en route to Washington County Animal Shelter, Surber said.
Officers found that as many as 100 rounds had been fired from Puckett’s handgun before it jammed, Surber said. They also found 100 live rounds still in the home, he said.
Michael Puckett, the suspect’s older brother, said the incident does not reflect his brother’s typical behavior. He said Harold Puckett and his wife split up about three weeks ago, and he was depressed and drinking alcohol.
“He doesn’t recall doing it,” Michael Puckett said. “We’re just hoping everything’s going to work out for the best, and telling everybody to pray for him.”
Michael Puckett said the dogs belonged to the estranged wife of the suspect, who also kept rabbits and goats. Nine dogs lived with the family.
Two of the dogs were housed at the Washington County Animal Shelter, said shelter Supervisor Ann Rosenbaum: a hound named Rebel and a boxer mix called Kyra. She said those dogs are doing well.
One dog was being housed at the VCA Highlands Animal Hospital and the other, a German shepherd named Dakota, according to Michael Puckett, is in a kennel at the residence and being cared for by relatives.
Three of the surviving dogs were outside at the time of the shootings, said Erik Puckett, the assistant police chief; only one of the dogs that was inside survived.
Smyth County Humane Society President Bev Haddock said the incident was “a tragedy, obviously. When folks are emotional and don’t know what to do, sometimes they take it out on animals. Some say it’s better to take it out on animals, but it’s hard to say. We are driven by our emotions, sometimes for the worse.”
Teresa Dockery, president of the Bristol Humane Society, called the shootings “very tragic.”
“This is certainly an unusual case,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything exactly like it.”
She said the suspect should be charged with animal cruelty under the Virginia code because, in her view, the killings were unnecessary.
According to the code, anyone who “cruelly or unnecessarily beats, maims, mutilates, or kills any animal, whether belonging to himself or another” is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Dockery said people always have a better option for unwanted pets – animal shelters, which are funded with local tax dollars and give the animals a chance for a new home.
“I would hope that law enforcement and animal control in Saltville would send a very, very sound message that this is not to be tolerated,” she said, noting that there’s often a correlation between abuse of animals and abuse of children and spouses.
“Animals are living, breathing, feeling entities. And they deserve a quality life, just as children and adults deserve a quality of life.”
Surber said he dreaded a worse outcome from the incident for its human participants.
“I just thank God nobody was hurt,” Surber said. “I just had the feeling when we got there it would not end that way, that somebody would get hurt.”
Puckett remained Tuesday at the Abingdon Regional Jail without bond, Surber said.
Saltville Assistant Police Chief Erik Puckett, no relation to the suspect or officer Jamie Puckett, said a Nov. 3 court date is scheduled for Harold Puckett.

Debra McCown writes for the Bristol Herald Courier.