For the third time in two weeks, police have responded to an individual threatening suicide.
About 1:30 a.m. Monday, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to 7146 Sims Road after a man called 911 and threatened to kill himself.
When deputies arrived, David Shockey, 36, was on the front porch with a handgun. Mr. Shockey’s father took the handgun, but Mr. Shockey re-entered the house where other weapons were available, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Mr. Shockey refused to cooperate or talk with police and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team was deployed at 3:15 a.m., the release stated.
Bradley County Sheriff’s Office SWAT was notified several hours later and was asked to bring its armored vehicle. SWAT members attempted to talk with Mr. Shockey until 11:30 a.m., when they released tear gas into the house, officials said.
Standoff ends
When Mr. Shockey exited the house, he became combative, officers reported, prompting police to shock him with a Taser.
Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services took Mr. Shockey to Erlanger hospital for a mental evaluation.
The sheriff’s office has a warrant for Mr. Shockey on domestic vandalism charges and other charges are pending, said Janice Atkinson, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Shockey is the latest is a string of recent officer-involved suicide attempts.
“Speaking from a law enforcement perspective, we view these calls as a cry for help,” Ms. Atkinson said.
Ms. Atkinson said officers always are deployed when a suicide threat is called in.
“These types of incidents don’t happen very frequently, but they do happen and they probably will continue to happen,” said Ms. Atkinson.
Numbers up
Lt. Kim Noorbergen, spokeswoman for the Chattanooga Police Department, said the department has seen an increase in suicide-related calls in the past year, but she didn’t have the exact number.
“Our calls for people threatening, attempting or committing suicide have all gone up lately,” said Lt. Noorbergen.
She said the department uses both a hostage negotiation team and a crisis response team to work with people threatening suicide.
“They often do want someone to talk them out of it and give them that little bit of hope,” said Lt. Noorbergen, who used to be on the hostage negotiation team.
On July 2, the sheriff’s SWAT unit was called to a possible suicide attempt by a woman at 974 Shadow Lane, who told 911 dispatchers she wanted police to kill her.
Deputies arrived to find a woman standing in the backyard, holding a handgun.
She said she didn’t want to die and wanted police to help her. She was taken by ambulance to an area hospital, the news release stated.
Earlier that week, Chattanooga police shot and killed another man threatening suicide after he ran at them with a revolver, records show.
Andrew Carr, 29, called 911 threatening suicide. When officers arrived at his house at 807 Graysville Road, Mr. Carr initially negotiated to surrender, but suddenly charged off his porch, pointing a revolver at three police officers standing 20 to 25 feet away, according to police statements. The officers fired, killing Mr. Carr.
The medical report says Mr. Carr was “upset about a foreclosure issue” and, when he charged police, was “screaming ‘suicide by cop.'”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death.
Lt. Noorbergen said suicide by cop is a rare occurrence in Chattanooga, and takes special training to recognize and respond to.
“It’s not cut-and-dry whether someone is attempting suicide by cop or not. It is on a whole other level, and goes a lot deeper than our training.”
Ms. Atkinson said the latest series of officer-involved suicide attempts is strange, but hesitated to call it a trend.
“It is kind of strange that we’ve had several back to back,” she said.
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