Man dies after Cary police, FBI respond to hours-long standoff at apartment complex
A man died Wednesday night following a standoff with law enforcement that lasted over 19 hours at an apartment complex, Cary Police Chief Terry Sult said.
The man died by suicide after barricading himself in an apartment in a standoff that started late Tuesday and continued into Wednesday night, Sult said.
“You could tell that this man was in a dark place and he was struggling to come out of that,” said Sult, expressing his condolences to the man’s family.
An 11-year-old boy, who Sult identified as the man’s son, suffered minor gunshot wounds before he was released to authorities Wednesday morning. The boy was hospitalized and is in “very good” condition, authorities said. Sult said Wednesday night he would be released to family.
Before 6:30 p.m., several booms were heard in the Windsor apartments at Tryon Village complex as the standoff entered its 19th hour.
Sult identified the noise as a “distraction device” but said police did not enter the apartment until after the man had killed himself.
“We just don’t know what the outcome of these things are going to be,” Sult said. “I will tell you that we used every resource that we could put our hands on, on the local, state and federal level to make sure we had the best advice and the best negotiators in place to try to save this man’s life.”
The names of the man and his son have not been released.
The complex is located off of Walnut Street, between Dillard Drive and Tryon Road. It’s south of Cary Crossroads shopping center.
When the standoff began
The standoff began Tuesday around 11 p.m. when Cary police responded to the complex for a wellness check. The man who initiated the standoff was having a mental health crisis and threatened to harm himself, according to police.
Hostage negotiators were able to get him to release the boy Tuesday morning, about 10 a.m. The boy suffered minor gunshot injuries to his arm and neck, Sult said.
“It’s easy to focus on the loss today, but we should focus on the 11-year-old and just be grateful that he is still with us and can return to his family,” Sult said Wednesday night.
The chief said he did not know of previous calls for police service to the apartment.
At least two dozen first responders were at the apartment complex throughout Wednesday, including an armored vehicle. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and other agencies were on the scene.
The FBI took over the negotiations, and at 3 p.m., Sult said they had a “good dialogue” going with the man inside the apartment.
But as the afternoon stretched into evening, and the 19th hour of the standoff began, negotiations “did deteriorate,” Sult said.
Sult described the situation as one with “highs and lows” throughout the day as authorities worked to develop trust with the man.
“We’re there for them, not for, you know, some kind of dynamic outcome,” Sult said. “We want to help them as best we can and to make sure they find the services that they need.
“It was very, very tough on the negotiators that were involved because part of their job is to develop a rapport.”
How residents were alerted
Starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday, alerts went to 201 residents who had opted in to the ReadyWake alert system, authorities said, urging them to stay in their residences.
Alerts went out again at 6:30 a.m. and then 9:30 a.m. The 9:30 a.m. alert told residents that the situation was still active and ongoing.
Some apartment residents were evacuated, and a perimeter was set up around the scene.
Resident Pamela McKoy said she didn’t know what was happening she returned home until around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday and police told her she couldn’t get back home. She lives across from the apartment building on Woodfield Lake Road that was surrounded by law enforcement.
“I got nervous and scared,” said McKoy, 62, in an interview with The News & Observer.
A neighbor told her that she had heard gunshots and that police informed her there was a hostage situation.
”Was there a man running around with a gun? We wasn’t told anything,” McKoy said.
Other residents who declined to give their name said they did not get any alerts.
A town of Cary spokesperson said a mass alert wasn’t used so as not to tip off the man inside the apartment.
Around 11 a.m., McKoy said she received an email that went to all residents from the complex’s management to inform them that the Cary Police Department “has the incident contained.” Residents were told if they left they would not be able to re-enter the complex until the incident was resolved, according to the email provided to The N&O.
”If it happened yesterday at night, that’s a long time until this morning and I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.
Around 1 p.m. Sult said the situation had shifted from a hostage situation to focusing on crisis intervention. But there was still some risk to the public.
School and law enforcement officials worked out a plan to drop off students returning home to the complex Wednesday afternoon at a different location.
“I’m concerned about schoolkids getting out,” Sult said in the afternoon. “I’m concerned about those walking their dogs.”
McKoy said she heard the booms just before 6:30 p.m., from within the apartment complex, which was closed off to the press and the public, except for certain residents.
”It sounded more like a cannon,” said McKoy. “It was like, ‘boom, boom, boom!’ Scared the hell out of me.”
Focus on mental health
Wednesday night, Sult said he met with the man’s family before giving the media an update on the standoff, calling it “emotional.” He said the incident should bring attention to mental health problems across the country and the lack of treatment that people “so desperately need.”
Officials will review how the situation was handled, Sult said, a practice common after a critical incident.
“But ultimately we’re not in control of what a person does with themselves,” he said. “What we can do is help guide them or try to help guide them into a good path, a good place for them to be to where they can receive the counseling at all.”
He said negotiators are often successful at resolving a mental health crisis without injury or death, even though a person in crisis has suffered from mental illness long before police arrive.
“We’re heartbroken that we were not successful today,” he said.
Travis Long contributed to this report.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThis is a breaking news story
In a breaking news situation, facts may be unclear and details may change as the story develops. Our reporters are working to get information as quickly and accurately as possible. This story may be updated as more information becomes available. Refresh this page for the most up-to-date report.
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 1:11 PM.
