Frederick County Sheriff’s Office: Incident with barricaded subject ends peacefully

On March 31, 2021, at approximately 3:35pm, a woman approached two Frederick County sheriff’s deputies stating that her husband had just assaulted her and locked her out of her residence located at 127 Brandy Ln. The victim, Tonya Redmond, informed the deputies that a protective order was also in place, against the male, restricting him from being at the residence.

Following up on the claims of assault, and violation of the protective order, the deputies approached the residence and attempted to make contact with the subject inside. The deputies reported hearing sounds of someone yelling, throwing objects and destroying property. While attempting to make contact, the male subject made it clear that he would not comply or cooperate with their efforts. During this time deputies heard what sounded like the racking of the slide of a shotgun and backed away from the residence to await the arrival of additional units.

Further information from the victim indicated that her husband, John Redmond, had been drinking and did have access to a shotgun and a .22 caliber rifle. Further attempts at contact with Redmond were unsuccessful as additional sheriff’s office resources were dispatched to the area for a barricaded, and possibly armed, subject. An Incident command post was established on the parking lot of the old Food Lion shopping center as members of the FCSO Crisis Negotiation Team and the sheriff’s office SWAT team responded to the call. Numerous attempts at establishing contact with Redmond were initially met with statements of resistance to any law enforcement efforts.

While members of the CNT unit continued to try to establish two-way communications with Redmond, warrants were obtained on the subject and a search warrant for the house was issued. After almost 3 hours from the start of this incident, Redmond stopped responding verbally and had not been seen. At this time, members of the FCSO SWAT team deployed chemical agents in an effort to force Redmond out of the residence without success. It was decided that entry would be made into the residence after which Redmond was located in one of the bedrooms and taken into custody without incident, at 7:39 pm, bringing a peaceful resolution to this incident.

Redmond was escorted from the residence to a waiting ambulance before being transported to Winchester Medical Center to be medically checked and decontaminated from the exposure to the chemical agents deployed. At the time of this release, Redmond was being released from the medical center and being transported to the regional adult detention facility on charges of domestic assault and violation of a protective order.