After spending nearly five hours barricaded in a house in the Murrayville area earlier today, a man walked out of the residence and surrendered to Hall County Sheriff's Office deputies.
It began when the suspect, Devon Mason Brannon, age 36, forced his way into a home where three people were inside that he apparently knows. A 9-1-1 call was received around 10:45 a.m. that Brannon was armed and had barricaded himself in the home on Underwood Drive off Bakers Bend Drive. According to Derreck Booth of the Hall County Sheriff's Offce, "Deputies got there and determined that Mr. Brannon had forced his way into the house and began waving a handgun around. We do know that two other men and a woman were there at the time. The woman lives in the house." Because this is primarily a residential area, nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.
According to Booth, multiple attempts to contact Brannon by phone and loudspeaker were unsuccessful.
"Between the initial call time and Mr. Brannon's surrender, the three other adult indiviudals were able to leave without incident," says Booth.
The incident culminated when crews on the scene noticed a fire on the second floor of the home. "Mr. Brannon was overcome by smoke and broke a window of the house and came out with his hands up, about five minutes after authorities noticed the fire got started," says Booth. That was around 3:45 p.m.
Hall County Fire Services personnel were already on the scene and rushed to extinguish the fire. According to a release from Hall County Fire Services, the fire was all through the second floor, but quickly put out. The Hall County Fire Marshall's Office is investigating the fire and no cause has yet been released.
"Fortunately, we are very happy that no one was injured during this incident today," says Booth. "No gunshots were fired by Mr. Brannon or by law enforcement at all." He credits that to the multiple agencies that helped with the incident - the Sheriff's Office Patrol, Criminal Investigations Divsion, Swat Team, Hall County Fire Services, GA Department of Natural Resources and Gainesville Police Department.
Investigators now have Brannon in custody and are working to finalize his charges.
*Note: Information provided by the sheriff's office said this incident is unrelated to an escape of a Hall County Jail inmate earlier in the day.
