Milam County Sheriff Chris White said a 34-year-old Georgetown man took his own life Friday during a standoff with the sheriff’s department and DPS in the 17,700 block of FM 486 south of Pettibone.
White said Jason Earl Merritt shot himself in the head at 4:34 p.m. about a half hour into the confrontation.
The drama had begun earlier in the afternoon when 27-year-old Jeremy Elmore of Georgetown was shot in the head near the Hill Road exit on Interstate 35.
Elmore was taken to Baylor Scott & White, Temple, for treatment.
Merritt was identified as the suspect and Sheriff White said details of threats involving Milam County locations were made available to his department.
“One was the location south of Pettibone and the other was on 15th Street in Cameron,” he said.
Deputies and DPS state troopers went to the FM 486 location and Cameron police went to the location in that city.
White said, due to the proximity to Cameron schools, administrators placed those facilities on “soft lockdown” status until more information could be obtained.
White said about 4 p.m. Deputy Nathan Law located the suspect traveling north on FM 486 near the Oak Club. The vehicle then proceeded a short distance northward to the address of the confrontation.
The department’s armored vehicle was called in. “We attempted for over 30 minutes to have the subject exit the vehicle peacefully,” White said.
“The performance of my deputies was amazing,” White said. “This went from a simple be-on-the-lookout to a rapidly-evolving and extremely dangerous situation in a few minutes.”
White said a school bus was re-routed during the incident.
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