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Photo courtesy of Spalding County Sheriff's Office.
GRIFFIN - On Thursday, October 24, 2019, deputies of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic call with shots fired and possible barricaded gunman at 512 Terry Drive. According to the victim, her boyfriend, Stephen Kirby W/M 50 years of age, became intoxicated and violent. When she attempted to leave the residence, he brandished a 9mm pistol, and as she ran to exit the house for safety, he fired a shot. She also stated that he had other weapons in the residence and extensive tactical training.
According to Sheriff Darrell Dix, “The initial responding deputies attempted to make contact with Kirby but were unsuccessful. We notified our SWAT team, they responded, and the mobile command post was brought to the scene. Criminal Investigators responded and obtained a search warrant for the house.
“After more than 2 hours of attempting to make contact with Kirby through PA, phone calls, text messages, and social media, there was no response. At 10:00pm I gave the order for our SWAT team to begin methodically deploying gas rounds into the residence to force Kirby out. At 10:16pm Kirby exited the residence and surrendered to our SWAT team without incident. He was transported to Spalding Regional for examination then to the Spalding County Jail where he is currently being held on charges of family violence-aggravated assault and is awaiting a bond hearing.”
“We spoke to the victim last night and she is shaken but is doing ok. We offered her assistance through our Victim/Witness Program if needed. Our initial responding deputies, Criminal Investigators, and SWAT team, did an outstanding job in controlling, containing, and resolving the situation. This incident had the potential to end tragically but there were a lot of people that were praying for a peaceful outcome and those prayers were answered.”