An armed standoff in Augusta County Sunday afternoon led to the arrest of a Staunton man.
Dean Kerr, 55, is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail after the incident, which began in the 5 p.m. hour Sunday with Kerr allegedly shouting threats at neighbors across the street on the 100 block of Greenview Drive that he wanted to kill them.
Deputies arrived on scene at 6:08 p.m., and as they approached Kerr, who was brandishing what appeared to be a scoped rifle, he refused their commands to disarm and retreated into his residence.
Patrol deputies subsequently surrounded the Kerr residence and notified neighbors to stay in their homes via a reverse 911 call that was placed by Augusta Emergency Communications Center. Deputies also requested assistance from negotiators and the Augusta County SWAT team. Interviews with relatives indicated that the weapon Kerr was armed with was most likely a pellet rifle.
Deputies and negotiators, assisted by Kerr’s relatives, successfully made contact with him via phone on several occasions, but Kerr refused to surrender or exit the home. At approximately 7:50 p.m., after numerous attempts to have Kerr peacefully surrender failed, the SWAT team executed a search warrant and introduced pepper spray canisters into the residence.
Kerr appeared at a window at the rear of the residence, where he was taken into custody without further incident, ending the two-hour long standoff.
A scoped .22 caliber Ruger brand pellet rifle was recovered from the Kerr residence and seized as evidence.
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