A three-hour SWAT standoff with a man who allegedly shot at Gwinnett County police officers ended peacefully when the suspect surrendered Tuesday morning.
The Gwinnett County police SWAT team was sent to an apartment complex on Beaver Ruin Road before daybreak when the man, identified as Kelvin Barefield, shot at an officer investigating a domestic dispute, Gwinnett police Cpl. Jake Smith said.
Barefield is charged with five counts of aggravated assault, reckless conduct, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County jail.
The officers were responding to a domestic disturbance at the Grove at Stonebrook Apartments in the 1400 block of Beaver Ruin Road around 5:30 a.m. when "there were actually shots fired at our officers," Smith told the AJC.
Smith said Barefield, 43, fired more shots after SWAT officers arrived. He said there were no injuries to officers or bystanders.
Police evacuated about 10 nearby units while SWAT officers tried to talk the man out of the apartment. Smith said he was alone in the apartment and was holding no hostages.
"Everything is proceeding well," Smith said shortly before 9 a.m. "They have contact with the male inside and he is behaving pretty reasonably at this point."
A few minutes later, Barefield surrendered.
Smith said he didn't know why Barefield shot at officers. "We're not real clear on his medical or mental health history," Smith said, adding that the suspect had been arrested in the past in other counties.
Barefield was convicted of obstructing officers in Muscogee County in 1997 and of obstruction, disorderly conduct and making terroristic threats in Cobb County in 2002, according to state Department of Corrections records. He was released from state custody in June, 2008.
"This obviously could have gone a lot of different ways after somebody fires at the police, and we are always pleased when there's a peaceful resolution," Smith said.
Selendra Brown said she has been dating Barefield for two years.
Brown said her boyfriend, an Army veteran, suffers from bipolar disorder.
“He’s off his medication and anything will trigger an outburst,” she told the AJC.
“Last night, we had gotten into an argument, and I left, hoping that by me leaving, he would cool down,” Brown said. “When I returned, the officers were already here and said they heard gunshots.”
Brown said after the standoff ended that it looked like an explosion in her apartment.
“It’s like everything in the apartment is thrown outside,” she said, adding that police told her that Barefield “barricaded himself by throwing everything down the staircase. When you walk in, you have to go up the stairs, and he took all the furniture and had it down the stairs so you couldn’t go in.”
Brown said that without his medication, Barefield can get “very hyper and very agitated,” but said she had never know him to become violent.
“I give big props to the negotiators,” she said. “I feel like they did a great job because everyone is safe and they were able to talk him down.”
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