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STANDOFF ENDS PEACEFULLY

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:19 PM CDT

A bizarre standoff that began following a chase Saturday afternoon ended peacefully when an armed man stepped out of his truck and surrendered to authorities.

Thomas Robert Gray, 46, of Pine Bluff, holds a gun to his head as he keeps police at bay for three hours before surrendering peacefully Saturday afternoon at T & J Storage at the intersection of Hutchinson and Wood Streets in Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

The man, Thomas Robert Gray, 46, of Pine Bluff, held law enforcement officers, sheriff’s deputies and Arkansas State Police troopers at bay for almost three hours after crashing his truck through a gate at T & J Storage, 310 N. Hutchinson St., frequently pointing a large-caliber handgun with a scope attached at his head, or putting the gun into his mouth.

Gray finally surrendered after sheriff’s Lt. Steve McFatridge, Pine Bluff Police Lt. Bob Rawlinson and Officer Bill Wiegand had negotiated with him and tried to talk him into putting the gun down.

“He told us if we came to get him, things were going to go bad,” said Rawlinson, “and we took him at his word and continued talking.”

During the negotiation, officers frequently could be seen throwing bottled water to Gray. The water had been brought to the scene by representatives of the Red Cross.

After being taken into custody at 6:10 p.m., Gray was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center where he was admitted for observation. Rawlinson said that when the investigation is completed, detectives will forward information to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to determine what charges will be filed.

The incident began when police responded to a reported robbery where shots were fired at the mini-storage facility. They saw Gray leaving the scene in his truck.

“This was apparently the result of some type domestic incident over an extended period of time,” Rawlinson said.

Police and deputies chased Gray down the Martha Mitchell Expressway to Princeton Pike, then back toward Pine Bluff on U.S. 270 where a police officer and sheriff’s deputy were each able to deploy “stop sticks” near Claud Road, flattening both the left-front and left-rear tires of the truck.

“He drove several miles on flat tires right back to where the pursuit started,” Rawlinson said.

During the chase, which reached speeds of 55 to 60 miles per hour, police reported that Gray frequently took one hand off the steering wheel and pointed the gun at his head when they got too close.

At the scene, police and deputies with guns drawn crouched behind a number of marked and unmarked cars as Gray alternated between sitting in the truck and rolling down the passenger side window so he could partially crawl out and wave the gun around while yelling at officers attempting to talk to him.

More than two hours into the incident, Gray could be seen stepping out of the truck on three occasions, again waving the gun wildly in the air before crawling back into the vehicle, where he would roll up the window for short periods before lowering it again.

A witness at the scene, who declined to give his name, said Gray was a former boyfriend of the owner of the mini-storage facility, and since the two broke up, he had harassed her and told her she “would end up in a casket.”

The owner, as well as several other people were reportedly inside the building when the shots were fired and during the standoff, although that could not be confirmed Saturday night.

As an added precaution, law enforcement officers closed off both and southbound traffic on the Martha Mitchell Expressway at both Blake and Bryant Streets, rerouting traffic down Dollarway Road for almost three hours.

Both the police and county SWAT teams responded to the scene, standing by while negotiations continued, then displaying big smiles when they saw Gray give himself up.

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