Posted 1:49 am Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Hour-Long Standoff Ends With Arrest
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE - Police apprehended a murder suspect after an hour-long standoff Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville.
Officers surrounded a house in the 800 block of Burleson Street after receiving a call around 1:30 p.m. from a woman who said a family member, living inside the home called her and said he "did something bad."
The caller asked police to check on a woman who was inside the Burleson Street home because she may have been shot.
When officers arrived to check on the woman's welfare, the homeowner Bernie Lucas, 52, of Jacksonville barricaded himself inside the house and would not let police enter, said Sgt. Daniel Franklin with the Jacksonville Police Department.
"We used caution because we believed he was armed," Franklin said.
Officers set up a perimeter around the house, blocked off traffic to the area and got the suspect on the phone.
"We spoke with Lucas and determined there was a victim in the residence who was shot with a weapon," Franklin said.
For an hour on the phone, assistant police chief John Page tried to talk the Lucas out of the house so officers could check on the female victim. He wouldn't budge, and eventually the phone went dead.
Several minutes later, Lucas came to a side door of the home where he communicated with police at the door's threshold.
"He took a few steps out the door onto the carport and that's when we got him," Franklin said.
Assistant Chief Page, grabbed the suspect, pulling him from the home.
Once Lucas was handcuffed and in custody, officers went to check on the welfare of the female, 43-year-old Shelia Gray of Jacksonville, who was in a back bedroom.
She was found dead, shot multiple times with an unknown caliber weapon.
Franklin said Lucas and the victim may have been in a romantic relationship.
When officers searched Lucas, they found a .38 caliber revolver in his possession, which police said may have been used in the shooting.
"We don't know for sure, and we're waiting on the autopsy. That is what we believe she was shot with," Franklin said.
Gray was pronounced dead by Cherokee County Justice of the peace Teresa Phifer who ordered an autopsy. The body was taken to Southeast Forensics Lab in Tyler.
Lucas was charged with murder and taken to the Cherokee County Jail where he is held on $100,000 bond.
Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE - Police apprehended a murder suspect after an hour-long standoff Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville.
Officers surrounded a house in the 800 block of Burleson Street after receiving a call around 1:30 p.m. from a woman who said a family member, living inside the home called her and said he "did something bad."
The caller asked police to check on a woman who was inside the Burleson Street home because she may have been shot.
When officers arrived to check on the woman's welfare, the homeowner Bernie Lucas, 52, of Jacksonville barricaded himself inside the house and would not let police enter, said Sgt. Daniel Franklin with the Jacksonville Police Department.
"We used caution because we believed he was armed," Franklin said.
Officers set up a perimeter around the house, blocked off traffic to the area and got the suspect on the phone.
"We spoke with Lucas and determined there was a victim in the residence who was shot with a weapon," Franklin said.
For an hour on the phone, assistant police chief John Page tried to talk the Lucas out of the house so officers could check on the female victim. He wouldn't budge, and eventually the phone went dead.
Several minutes later, Lucas came to a side door of the home where he communicated with police at the door's threshold.
"He took a few steps out the door onto the carport and that's when we got him," Franklin said.
Assistant Chief Page, grabbed the suspect, pulling him from the home.
Once Lucas was handcuffed and in custody, officers went to check on the welfare of the female, 43-year-old Shelia Gray of Jacksonville, who was in a back bedroom.
She was found dead, shot multiple times with an unknown caliber weapon.
Franklin said Lucas and the victim may have been in a romantic relationship.
When officers searched Lucas, they found a .38 caliber revolver in his possession, which police said may have been used in the shooting.
"We don't know for sure, and we're waiting on the autopsy. That is what we believe she was shot with," Franklin said.
Gray was pronounced dead by Cherokee County Justice of the peace Teresa Phifer who ordered an autopsy. The body was taken to Southeast Forensics Lab in Tyler.
Lucas was charged with murder and taken to the Cherokee County Jail where he is held on $100,000 bond.
