HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities in Hall County said Saturday a man was shot in the arm after SWAT units forcibly entered a home where he'd allegedly held a woman hostage with an axe, then doused her, the house and himself with gasoline as he threatened to torch the home.
The incident happened overnight at a location on Lakeview Lane off Browns Ridge Road, the Hall County Sheriff's Office said.
According to the sheriff's office, a call came in around 12:30 a.m. "alerting them to a domestic situation" at the home. They said deputies found a 34-year-old man "with an axe and holding a woman hostage inside the residence."
As the man's threats "escalated and negotiations were failing," the SWAT team was called in. Negotiators then learned the man had "also armed himself with a torch and had poured gasoline on himself, the victim and throughout the home, threatening to set the house on fire."
The sheriff's office said at that point, he had also nailed the front door shut, and then stopped communicating with negotiators around 4 a.m.
It was at that time, according to the sheriff's office, that SWAT units moved into the home, shot the man in the arm and rescued the hostage.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the woman had been held hostage in an enclosed shed on the property. The woman was not physically injured, the sheriff's office said, but was taken to the hospital for observation.
According to the GBI, the man was hospitalized and later taken to the Hall County Detention Center. He faces terroristic threats, false imprisonment, obstruction and reckless conduct charges.
The Hall County Sheriff's Office is still investigating what led up to the shooting. The GBI is also conducting an independent investigation. Once finished, the GBI said it will turn its findings over to the Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.