GATEWAY, Fla. (WINK) — A tense armed standoff at a Lee County home ended peacefully with one person in custody.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a residence on Country Day Circle at around 4:54 a.m. Thursday, July 10, after a young person called 911 to report a physical disturbance inside the home.
Through that call, deputies learned that 43-year-old Raymond Michael Rhodes physically attacked a woman, armed himself with a firearm and was threatening to kill her before taking his own life.
Deputies from the 5th Precinct arrived within minutes and got two people out of the home safely, but quickly discovered a 1-year-old child was still inside.
As deputies tried to make contact, Rhodes came out of the garage holding a camouflage-colored shotgun and pointed it directly at them.
Fearing for the child’s life, deputies entered the home, reached the toddler and handed the child through a bedroom window to deputies waiting outside.
After a hours-long standoff, deputies took the suspect into custody without further issues.
“This incident could have ended in tragedy, but because of the courage, discipline and exceptional training of our deputies, three lives were saved today,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.
Marceno also credited the communications team, saying they “remained calm and gathered critical information from the very first 911 call.”
Rhodes now faces charges including assault on a law enforcement officer, assault, false imprisonment and battery.
Detectives later recovered the shotgun along with additional firearms and ammunition from inside the home, and Rhodes remains in the Lee County Jail.