WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A man was arrested Tuesday after an armed stand-off took place at 409 Smithville Church Road, according to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
At around 7:55 p.m. Tuesday evening, the Houston County Sheriff's Office received a call saying 41-year-old Jacob Baily was making threatening and suicidal statements in front of his family, friends and law enforcement, the GBI said.
Then, they say, the situation escalated.
Baily barricaded himself in the camper on Smithville Church Road that he was living in at the time, and negotiators with the Houston County Sheriff's Office tried to convince Baily to stand down, the press release said.
The Houston County Sheriff's Office called on the GBI Special Operations Unit/Bomb Disposal Unit because Baily had military experience.
In the middle of the negotiations, the GBI sent a bomb-disposal unit robot to approach the camper, which is when they say Baily opened the front door and fired several shots at the robot.
Houston County Deputies and special reaction team members were not far from the robot, and that's when a deputy returned fire, the press release said. At that point, Baily retreated back into the camper and barricaded himself inside.
The stand-off eventually ended and the members of the Houston County Sheriff's Office special reaction team unit arrested Baily and took him to the hospital for examination, the GBI said.
They said Baily was not injured, and he was then taken to the Houston County detention center.
The GBI was invited to take over the investigation from the Houston County Sheriff's Office because the sheriff's office fired shots during the standoff.
Baily had been living in a camper on a friend's property for only a few weeks, according to the press release, and they note that Baily is not originally from Georgia.
This is the 56th officer-involved shooting of 2023 that local authorities have invited the GBI to investigate.
Once the investigation is wrapped up, the GBI will send the report to Houston Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
If you or someone you know is suffering from suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Hotline at 988 for 24/7 support in crisis.