Police said an hours-long standoff in DeKalb County involving a man with a suspected mental illness and his 67-year-old mother ended peacefully.
A DeKalb SWAT team negotiated with Jared Toombs, who now faces a false imprisonment charge after allegedly barricading himself and his mother inside a home in the 2900 block of Meadowview Drive, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“SWAT was called because of the barricade and the possibility of a weapon in the house,” DeKalb police Lt. Lonzy Robertson said earlier.
Police told Channel 2 that Toombs has a mental illness and officers came to the home for a wellness check.
The hostage situation began about 9:30 a.m. and ended around 3:30 p.m. Police told Channel 2 that no one was hurt.
Police advised neighbors to stay indoors.
Betty Redmond, who lives next door to the house, told Channel 2 Toombs was hanging out of a window screaming “Lord help me” and “they’re going to sell my house; I have nowhere to go.”
Because of the situation, police said access to Meadowview Drive at Clifton Church Road and Parker Ranch Road had been closed. That also affected secondary roads in the neighborhood.
Since school buses were not being allowed in the area, parents were asked to pick up students at school, DeKalb police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell said.
Redmond also told Channel 2 the 67-year-old woman tried to get away before the situation began.
“She was going to climb out the back window this morning and he wouldn’t let her,” Redmond said.
She said she previously worried about guns in the house because Toombs walks around carrying an uzi.
“Oh, I always worry that he’ll be violent because I’m directly next door,” Redmond said. “Bullets have no eyes so, yeah, I worry.”
Toombs’ niece, Santresa Clements, told Channel 2 that Toombs had been hearing voices and worried that people were trying to kill him.
“He’s never been diagnosed, but I feel like now’s the time where we should try to get him some help,” Clements said.
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