Shooting on Somerset: Suspect in custody after 6-hour negotiation, shootout

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — As officers

attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at 209 Somerset Drive Tuesday

morning, they were met with a closed door.

Renaldo Rashad Smith, the

individual in question, would speak through the door, but would not open it.

Officers breached the door and were met with gunfire.

What followed was a standoff that

lasted around six hours, deployed gas and a following shootout. The Journal

spoke with Lt. Eric Gossman, WRPD public information officer, for more details.

“The Marshal Service, the FBI and

Houston County Sheriff’s Warrant Division went to serve a warrant,” Gossman

said. “They knocked and announced, he came to the door and when they told him

he needed to come outside, he started shooting. At that point, we activated a

barricaded gunman protocol.”

According to an email from Warner

Robins interim Police Chief Roy Whitehead that was shared with The Journal,

officers retreated when fired upon and set up a perimeter, but did not return

fire.

WRPD worked the negotiations on

scene. According to Whitehead, officers “tried to convince Smith to surrender,”

but he refused, making no demands.

Negotiations started around 8 a.m.

and ended around 2 p.m., with Houston County Sheriff’s Office personnel

deploying gas shortly after. Gossman told The Journal that the gas used “opens

the mucus membranes and the pores of the skin.”

Whitehead briefly detailed the

outcome of the gas deployment in an email.

“Smith fired, and officers

returned fire. Smith was struck in the forearm,” Whitehead wrote. “He was taken

into custody and transported to the hospital.”

GBI is investigating the

officer-involved shooting. Whitehead said that the officers involved have been

placed on administrative leave.

As more information becomes

available, you can read about it in The Houston Home Journal.

 

 

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