A Gainesville man faces multiple charges following a 5-hour-long standoff with law enforcement Friday in north Hall County. Officials say Devon Mason Brannon, 36, was armed when he barricaded himself inside a house with three other people. He later allegedly set the house on fire.
Hall County Sheriff’s deputies took Brannon into custody at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Feb. 12 outside the residence in the 6000 block of Underwood Drive. Deputies responded to the initial call around 10:45 a.m. in reference to an armed barricaded man at the home. They determined that Brannon forced his way into the house and began waving a handgun. Two other men and the woman who lives in the home were there at the time. Brannon knew all three, according to Hall County Sheriff’s spokesperson Derreck Booth.
Between the initial call time and Brannon’s surrender, the three other individuals in the home were able to leave without incident.
During the ordeal, officers made numerous attempts to contact Brannon by phone and loudspeaker but were unsuccessful.
At approximately 3:40 p.m., a fire broke out on the second floor of the house, and Hall County Fire Services responded. Apparently overcome by smoke, Brannon broke a window and came out with his hands up several minutes later.
No one was injured during the standoff, Booth says, and no gunshots were fired by Brannon or law enforcement.
Officials still are not saying what prompted the incident. Deputies charged Brannon with multiple offenses including two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was booked into the Hall County Jail.
Members of the Sheriff’s Office Patrol and Criminal Investigation Divisions and SWAT Team, as well as Hall County Fire Services, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Gainesville Police Department, responded to the incident.
The Sheriff’s Office says this case is not related to the search for an escaped jail inmate who walked off a work detail Friday morning in Hall County.
