Charles Alton Grinnall
BROWNS SUMMIT, N.C. -- A 14-hour standoff and hostage situation ended early Friday morning in Browns Summit, N.C. when Guilford County sheriff’s deputies fired 20 rounds of tear gas into a home, forcing the suspect out where they quickly apprehended him.
Deputies said Grinnall shot at them during the standoff, and Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes made the decision to remove Grinnall from the home around 5:15 a.m. using tear gas. With daylight approaching, Barnes said he felt that was their best option since no peaceful resolution came Thursday.
News 14 Carolina's Jonathan Lowe has more from the scene, including an interview with Sherfiff BJ Barnes.
Find out what local neighbors who heard the gunshots and then were ordered back into their homes thought about the ordeal.
Charles Alton Grinnall, 36, was arrested shortly after he emerged from the home and charged with first-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and two counts of first-degree murder.
The hostage, Candace Elizabeth Dobson, 25, was a former girlfriend of Grinnall’s and was not injured.
The standoff happened at 4931 Oldway Road, and police shut down Highway 29 and Highway 150 in both directions until after they regained control of the situation. A news release indicated that Grinnall fired shots at officers seven or eight times over the course of the standoff but aimed wildly and did not have a target.
One bullet—possibly two—did hit a deputy’s cruiser though. The deputy was not armed and moved the vehicle back to a safe distance. Given that event and the fact that the suspect had a hostage, Barnes said he was just happy to see the potentially deadly situation end without anyone getting hurt.
"It gets very, very dangerous. I mean an officer, his car was shot at,” Sheriff Barnes explained. “He threatened to kill us; he wanted us to kill him. There was a daycare close by. There was families and houses that we had to evacuate, so yes, it did get very dangerous.”
The standoff started Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. when Barnes said Grinnall fired at deputies within minutes after they arrived. He was armed with a rifle and a handgun.
“It started yesterday at 4 p.m. We got a lot of tired folks out here,” Barnes said. “It was a long night and thank goodness for the help that we got from folks like EMS, Greensboro Police Department, even the Red Cross was out here helping us out. So it’s been a long night.”
Deputies said this is definitely not the first time Grinnall has been in trouble with police. In fact, he pulled a similar "stunt" in California according to Barnes, and the news release later said he was involved in a hostage situation in Virginia, as well.
Grinnall also has a long history of breaking-and-entering and larceny arrests with convictions in Guilford and Rockingham counties.