After a six hour standoff on Monday, law enforcement officials in Georgia successfully took a suspect into custody after he allegedly shot Troup County sheriff’s deputy Michael Hockett in the head.
According to WSB-TV, Hockett was performing a welfare check on Matthew Edmonson when a shotgun blast hit him in the forehead, elbow and waist.
“The deputy then retreated, at which time the individual got into a truck and began driving toward the deputy,” Troup County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Stewart Smith told WSB-TV.
Following the shooting, Edmonson barricaded himself in his home with a pistol and long rifle, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
The paper said that family members were able to convince Edmonson to turn himself in after a six hour standoff with law enforcement agencies, including “the FBI, GBI, local police and a SWAT team.”
Following the standoff, friends shared photos of Edmonson with WSB-TV reporter Rikki Klaus.
“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought this would have happened,” one friend told Klaus.
In a press conference on Monday, Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff commended officers for “not rushing in to make a quick decision.”
“Officers everywhere need to be careful about what they are doing,” Woodruff explained, “because this could turn violent.”
Hockett was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital. It was not immediately clear what charges Edmonson would be facing.
Watch the video below from WSB-TV, broadcast Jan. 10, 2017.
