Paulding SWAT Standoff Leads To 'Self-Inflicted' Death: Police

PAULDING COUNTY, GA — A domestic dispute that led to a SWAT standoff in Temple Thursday night ended with the death of a suspect, apparently by a self-inflicted gunshot, according to authorities.

Thomas Brian Buchanan, 41, was found dead in his home on Buchanan Highway after “a lengthy negotiations process with no response,” said Paulding County sheriff’s office spokesperson Sgt. Ashley Henson.

The incident started with “a verbal/physical argument” between Buchanan and his wife “that had gotten extremely heated,” according to the sheriff’s office statement. As the wife and her children fled their home, the statement continued, Buchanan “fired multiple shots” at them.

Eventually, a passerby she flagged down took her and her children to Rose’s Store in the Union Community, where she called 911. But when Paulding County sheriff’s deputies and Georgia State Patrol trooper arrived at the family’s home, according to the statement, Buchanan shot at them, too. That led to the arrival of a SWAT team and, ultimately, the discovery of Buchanan’s body.

Detectives and the Paulding County coroner made the preliminary call that Buchanan had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the sheriff’s office statement. Buchanan’s body was taken the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for an autopsy and an official cause of death.