MEADS, Ky. -- A nearly six-hour standoff with law enforcement ended Thursday with an armed and apparently distraught man who had barricaded himself inside his trailer taking his own life.
The drama shut down a stretch of Shopes Creek Road and resulted in the evacuation of several homes near the site of the incident.
According to Sgt. Phillip Slone of the Boyd County Sheriff's Department, the events began about 2:40 p.m. when Stanley David Maynard, of the 1700 block of Shopes Creek, called Boyd County 911 and reported he had shot his brother.
A deputy responded to Maynard's residence and made contact with the brother, who told him there'd been no shooting. He also identified the cell phone number of the person who'd called in the report as being that of Maynard, whom he said was in a bedroom in the trailer.
The deputy attempted to get Maynard to come out of the bedroom and talk to him, but Maynard refused, so the deputy went out to his cruiser and radioed for backup, Slone said. A second deputy arrived at the scene, and, as the two were approaching the trailer, two shots rang out from inside, he said.
At that point, Slone said, another brother who'd shown up at the residence ran into the trailer to try to convince Maynard to come out.
Authorities were able to make contact with Maynard and negotiated with him for several hours, Slone said. Mental-health professionals also spoke to him, he said.
Nearly six hours into the standoff, the Ashland Police Department's Special Response Team arrived at the scene and was preparing to enter the single-wide trailer. Maynard's brother started to leave, and, when he turned to do so, Maynard shot himself, Slone said. The SRT officers entered the residence a few minutes later to find Maynard dead.
No shots were fired by police during the incident, Slone said. He also said it wasn't clear whether Maynard was shooting at the deputies when he fired the two shots.
Slone said it wasn't clear what, if anything, transpired prior to Maynard's 911 call to touch off the drama. The matter is still under investigation by the sheriff's department, he said.
Maynard was pronounced dead at the scene by Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond. Kentucky State Police assisted the sheriff's department at the scene.
One of Maynard's neighbors said Thursday's scene on Shope's Creek -- police cruisers lining the roadway and officers with weapons drawn -- was highly atypical for the normally quiet rural neighborhood.
"I've been here a little over a year and this seems like a pretty decent little place," said Phillip Eldridge, who lives several doors down from Maynard's residence and was unable to reach his home due to the roadblock. "I've never seen anything like this."
Copyright 2013 - The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
