COLUMBUS — The family of a Brown County man who was killed by a SWAT sniper after a five-hour standoff in a southwestern Bartholomew County farm field Wednesday says he would have surrendered if allowed one phone call to his wife.
Brenda Douglas, the mother of Martin Louis Douglas, Jr., 30, Nineveh, said her son had never hurt anyone in his life and was not a bad person.
But within the last six weeks of his life, he had become addicted to methamphetamine, which she believes was the main reason for his actions in the police pursuit from Brown County to Bartholomew County Wednesday afternoon, and a contributing factor to why he did not surrender as SWAT team members asked.
His mother said she followed her son, who was known as Marty, as he fled from police just before noon Wednesday, after a family member, who she declined to identify, called officers to day he was suicidal and had weapons in his truck.
She was at the scene near the Deaver Road field during the standoff when Marty was shot and killed by the SWAT team, after they said he moved to the bed of his truck to get an AR-15 rifle.
His mother said her son had two handguns and the AR-15 in the truck when he was being pursued by Indiana State Police, Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies and Columbus police.
Marty was under the influence of methamphetamine when the pursuit and standoff occurred, his mother said.
“He hadn’t been to bed for two weeks — he was tired — but he kept smoking meth,” his mother said. She believes he was completely under the influence of the drug when police tried to stop him, and that prior interactions with police might have had some influence on his responses to them on Wednesday.
For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.
