Man dies by his own gun after Troup County standoff, deputies say

TROUP COUNTY, Ga. - The Troup County Sheriff's Office says one man is dead after a standoff at a home on Shoemaker Road.

Investigators say deputies fired at the suspect after he pointed a gun at them, but that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after the shooting.

Troup County deputies responded to the home at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday night.

"We got a phone call from a house at 1155 Shoemaker Road in Southern Troup County that there was an individual in the home with a gun and was making threats to harm himself or potentially others inside the home," said Sgt. Stewart Smith.

He says deputies discovered 52-year-old Russell Heiser had a gun and wasn't allowing several family members, including a small child, to leave the home.

"The people in the home could not safely leave out of fear of harm," Sgt. Smith said. 

Several hours after deputies arrived, they were able to communicate with Heiser and get the family members safely out.

Deputies say they were then able to get Heiser to come out and place a handgun he had been holding on a railing near the front door.

Smith gave FOX 5 Atlanta some insight on how deputies were talking to Heiser.

"The first thing is just trying to establish a rapport with the person, trying to get what's going on in their head, what made this happen," Smith said. "But the ultimate goal was to get everybody, including him, out of the home safely. But unfortunately, it didn't end that way for the suspect."

Things escalated. 

"One of our deputies was talking to him one-on-one, and he was able to get closer to him thinking that at some point he was going to be able to place him into custody. And when he went to try to do that, the individual turned. Everybody knew that the gun was laying on that railing," Smith said. "Then once he turned, the deputy tried to tase him. The Taser hit him, but it was ineffective. He continued on, and he was able to grab the handgun and point it in their direction."

That's when Smith says deputies opened fire and Heiser ran inside.

They heard one gunshot coming from inside the house just seconds later.

"All that is being investigated by the GBI, but we do believe that the gunshot wound to the head was a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the individual," Sgt. Smith said.

Smith said it was 'undetermined' whether deputies actually hit Heiser when they fired at him.