ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RIPPLEMEAD
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
A Giles County man ended a standoff with authorities Monday by killing himself in his parents' basement.
Giles County Sheriff Larry Falls said his department received a call at 7:30 a.m. from the father of Barry Peters, complaining that his son was firing a gun inside the father's Turnpike Road home.
Sheriff's officials said the elder Peters told them he had been having problems with his son since midnight. The father described his son as mentally unstable and heavily armed.
Peters' mother and father were evacuated safely, Falls said.
The sheriff's office called in a state police tactical unit, which brought an armored car to allow troopers to get closer to the white, one-story wooden house near Pearisburg.
State Police Capt. Ken Paul said that about 12:45 p.m., officers shot tear-gas canisters into the house to force out the 43-year-old Peters.
Paul said several more tear-gas canisters were fired into the house. When Peters didn't emerge, tactical team members went in.
They found Peters dead in the basement, with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
"We had to make a decision for the sake of the community," Paul said. "And we felt like we made the right decision." Police had evacuated nearby homes during the standoff.
None of the 25 or so officers involved was injured. But Peters did fire a shot that hit the front and rear windows of a Pearisburg police cruiser.
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB