Tense moments in a Stafford County neighborhood led to the arrest of an armed man at his home.
At 8:46 p.m. Thursday, February 24, deputies went to a home on Laurel Lane in Hidden Lake subdivision, near the Fauquier County line, for a report of a shooting.
A woman inside the house called 911 and said Joshua Payne, 44, was armed with a handgun. The woman grabbed her 4-year-old fled the home.
The suspect, the child’s father, Payne fired off a shot, a Stafford sheriff’s spokesman said. No one was injured.
Sheriff’s deputies surrounded the home, and deputies used a phone to try to talk to the suspect who was still inside the home and used a loudspeaker attached to a patrol car.
The suspect sat silent, the sheriff’s office said. Meanwhile, deputies determined the suspect is a convicted felon and could not possess a gun.
Deputies obtained a warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon as the crisis negotiation team continued to try to speak with the suspect.
At 11:17 p.m., negotiators got him on the phone, and hte suspect indicated he was no longer inside the home after a friend had picked him up and took him to neighboring Fauquier County, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
The suspect e hung up the phone. A spokesman added that deputies were sure he was still in the home and continued negotiations.
At 11:45 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office armored BearCat moved down the roadway past the home, and the suspect walked out. He surrendered peacefully to the arrest team.
Deputies found a handgun in the house.
Joshua Payne, 44, is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, sheriff’s authorities said. Payne was held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond.
Thursday’s incident marks the third standoff with Stafford County law enforcement in a month. On Sunday, February 13, deputies used gas to force out a man from an apartment who had been holed up for seven hours after a report of an assault on a child.
On January 28, a child was nearly abducted in the Embrey Mill subdivision. The incident led to an all-hands-on-deck situation leading investigators in the Stafford sheriff’s office to track down a suspect at home near North Stafford High School.
The suspect barricaded himself into a home, and a K-9 eventually pulled the suspect out.
