ATHENS, AL : Armed standoff ends in accidental discharge, no injuries on Thursday March 9th 2017

An early morning standoff with an armed Athens man ended Thursday after the suspect accidentally discharged his firearm into the ground, said the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office.

James Matthew Traywick, 34, was charged with attempted burglary and third-degree criminal mischief, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The arrest came after Chief Deputy Fred Sloss, Capt. Guy Simmons and Deputy Justin Smith spent roughly two hours trying to talk Traywick down as he as pointed a small-caliber handgun to his head, according to reports.

The incident came to an end when Traywick accidentally discharged the firearm into the ground. He then dropped the weapon, and deputies were able to apprehend him, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“Traywick did not indicate during the confrontation that he intended to hurt anyone other than himself,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The incident began at about 2 a.m., when deputies responded to a report of a male subject attempting to break into a residence on Alabama 99 in the Cartwright community.

The caller identified the suspect as Traywick and said he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs and that he had damaged a door in an attempt to break in, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responding to the scene reported finding Traywick on a screened porch behind the house pointing the handgun at his head, according to the reports.

The incident marked the first armed standoff of the year for the Sheriff’s Office, which has a history of peacefully resolving them, according to Public Information Officer Stephen Young.

Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely, who was on the scene Thursday, is well known for talking down suspects in standoffs over the years.

"That's kind of the sheriff's thing. Apparently, he passed it along,” Young said.

In 2015, Blakely offered a murder suspect a cup of ice for his warm whiskey to coax him out of a truck he was holed up in.

Last year, he talked down a suspect who sometimes pointed a firearm at deputies in a standoff that concluded a violent crime rampage and high-speed chase.

Blakely said he was impressed with the professional manner in which his deputies handled the latest standoff.

“Anytime you can resolve a potentially dangerous confrontation peacefully, it’s a success,” he said.


Source :
Armed standoff ends in accidental discharge, no injuries