Around 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, Putnam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Barbee thought he was responding to a routine complaint call to remove a trespasser.
But upon his arrival, instead of a trespasser, he found a loaded handgun pointed at him. And the gun wasn’t in the hands of a trespasser; it was in the hands of the complainant.
Barbee said the call was made by a resident in the 100 block of Bradley Road, who said he wasn’t home at the time. His girlfriend called him and said she could smell cigarette smoke and heard people on their property, and told him to call the police.
As he drove along the driveway toward the house, Barbee said he scanned the property looking for the trespassers, but didn’t see anyone. When Barbee got to the house, he got out of his patrol vehicle and still didn’t see anyone. As he walked toward the front porch, someone yelled at him.
“Somebody hollered out, ‘Hold it, stop right there and put up your hands,’” Barbee described to The Eatonton Messenger reporter.
“I looked at all the windows and doorways and still didn’t see anybody,” he continued. “And then I looked up and saw a head poked over the peak of the roof, and she had a pistol pointed at me.”
Barbee identified himself as a Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputy and told the woman, later identified as Amber McDade, that he was there for a trespass complaint and she needed to put down the gun.
McDade did not put down the Kimber 9mm pistol she was pointing at him, and continued to ask him who he was and why he was there.
Noting that he was wearing his sheriff’s deputy uniform and had arrived in his patrol vehicle marked with Putnam County Sheriff’s Office on the side, Barbee said he identified himself several more times, told her why he was there, and repeatedly told her to put down the gun.
“In order to de-escalate the situation, I didn’t pull out my pistol immediately, but sought cover behind an SUV that was in the driveway,” he said.
After notifying the dispatcher via his radio of the situation and requesting backup deputies, Barbee said he drew his firearm out of its holster and aimed it at McDade.
“But she still wouldn’t put her gun down, even after I repeatedly told her to put it down,” he said.
Barbee said that after exhausting all of his options, he decided he would have to shoot the 29-year-old woman pointing her gun at him and yelling.
“I put my finger on the trigger and started to apply pressure, but as soon as I did that, she put down her gun and stood up and put her hands in the air,” Barbee said.
Barbee instructed McDade to come down from the roof with nothing in her hands, and when she did, he handcuffed her and placed her in the backseat of his patrol vehicle.
“And then I had to walk around a bit to pray and thank God that I didn’t have to shoot anyone or that I didn’t get shot, because I depend on my faith,” he said. “And by then, backup had arrived, and Detective J.D. Turk climbed up on the roof and got the gun.”
Amber Nicole McDade, 29, of Bradley Road, Eatonton, was booked into Putnam County Jail and charged with aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer when engaged on official duty. She was released on a $5,000 bond.
PCSO Chief of Staff Russell Blenk said Barbee has been with the sheriff’s office since 2001.
“So he’s probably the most seasoned deputy we’ve got out there, and he knows what to do,” Blenk said. “Thankfully, it turned out well.”