CLARKESVILLE – Clarkesville police spent six hours dealing with an erratic man Sunday, 5.5 hours of which he was barricaded inside a government apartment after threatening to shoot the responding officer.
Kenneth Raymond Parks, in his early 60s, is charged with felony terroristic threats and acts and misdemeanor counts of obstruction and disorderly conduct, said Clarkesville Police Chief Brad Barrett.
Police initially responded to 124 Ritchie Street in Clarkesville at 1:46 p.m. Sunday after receiving complaints that Parks was being loud and using profanity, acting in an erratic manner.
After speaking with him the first time, officers were called back to the scene at 2:15 p.m., Barrett said.
“The officer went back and again found him to be hallucinogenic almost, again using profanity and loud, with erratic behavior,” Barrett said. “He jumped up and ran in the apartment and closed the door and made terroristic threats toward the officer that was there.”
Because of the threats, Clarkesville police requested assistance on the call.
“At that point, we set up a perimeter around the apartment and had additional units respond,” Barrett said. “We attempted to negotiate with him, and he again made terroristic threats, stating that he had a firearm inside the dwelling.”
When initial negotiations to bring Parks out of the apartment failed, Clarkesville police obtained arrest warrants for Parks and a search warrant for the dwelling while surrounding the structure.
“We contacted Habersham Special Response Team, and we utilized hostage negotiators from Banks County and from Habersham County,” Barrett said. “All attempts to negotiate turned up unsuccessful.”
Just after 7:45 p.m., Barrett said officers made the decision to enter the dwelling.
“We made the decision to gain entry into the apartment, and the Habersham Special Response Team entered the apartment at 7:48,” Barrett said. “The Special Response Team made contact with him and took him into custody with no further incident at that time. No firearm was located.”
Parks was taken to Habersham Medical Center for evaluation.
“We were able to gain entry without causing any damage to the dwelling,” Barrett said.
Barrett said officers are familiar with Parks from previous calls, but nothing like what transpired Sunday.
“We’ve been on calls for similar complaints, but this is the first time that he’s actually made threats to law enforcement or barricaded himself in,” Barrett said.
Throughout the incident, officers knew Parks was located inside the apartment. A handful of nearby residents were asked to go inside and shelter in place.
“We didn’t evacuate, but anybody that was outside, we had them go into their apartments,” Barrett said. “Because of the fact that we had a safe perimeter set up around his residence and knew that he was in there, no evacuation was needed.”
Clarkesville Police Department was assisted by Demorest P.D., North Georgia Technical College P.D., Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, Habersham Special Response Team and Banks County Sheriff’s Office. Clarkesville Fire Department and Habersham County Emergency Services also responded.
Barrett said despite the length of the standoff, he is extremely pleased with how it ended.
“Under the circumstances, you couldn’t ask for a better outcome,” Barrett said. “Everyone was safe. It did take some time, but every precaution was taken for the protection of him as well as the residents that live nearby.”
Ritchie Street, located adjacent to the former Habersham County Courthouse parking lot, was closed throughout the incident, but only serves the eight to 10 units of government housing located there, Barrett said.
Nearby businesses and the few remaining government offices on the property were closed, so no business was interrupted.
