Updated Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 4:30 p.m.
Wilkes County, GA – It took law enforcement about seven hours to apprehend 35-year-old Ricky Lavender from inside the home after a domestic dispute. Wilkes County Sheriff Mark Moore spoke with media right after the incident.
“Deputies responded to the scene and talked with a woman who said her boyfriend, Ricky Lavender, had assaulted her on the outside and inside of the premise here,” he said.
GBI and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team helped Wilkes County during the standoff. Sheriff Moore said negotiators talked to Lavender on the phone while they waited outside, and that Lavender threatened to harm himself, or any officer who tried to come inside.
“According to her he was drinking, taking pills. This subject has a history of that,” Sheriff Moore said after investigators spoke to Lavender’s girlfriend.
Sheriff Moore added that Lavender is being charged with aggravated assault.
News Channel 6 uncovered Lavender was arrested for the same thing last year along with not keeping drugs in their original container in Lincoln County.
He was also arrested in 2013 for criminal damage to property and a Superior Court Bench Warrant for Failure to Appear in Wilkes County in 2012.
The large team worked in heavy gear on one of the hottest days of the year with EMS on hand to bring relief until Lavender was forced out of the home.
“SWAT team used tear gas and the subject came out,” Sheriff Moore added as to how the standoff concluded.
Sheriff Moore told us that Lavender had a stab wound when they apprehended him from the home and he is being taken to the hospital then to Wilkes County Jail.
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Wilkes County, GA – A standoff in Wilkes County that started early Tuesday morning is now over and a man is in custody.
Wilkes County Sheriff Mark Moore tells us, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office got a call at 5:13 a.m. Tuesday morning about a domestic dispute at a home located at 513 Bailey Road.
Ricky Lavender, 35, and his girlfriend were apparently arguing over Lavender drinking and taking pills.
The girlfirend and her mother got out of the house, but Lavender threatened to kill himself and kill any police who attempted to come inside the home, according to Sheriff Moore.
Lavender has been charged with Aggravated Assault. He was transported to a local hospital with stab wounds.
He was removed from the home after tear gas was discharged into the home.
SWAT team members from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, and agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) assisted the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office with the situation.
