GLOUCESTER, Va. — A man is behind bars after an hours-long standoff with Gloucester County Sheriff's Office (GCSO) deputies, where deputies attempted to arrest him for brandishing a firearm at his former workplace and threatening a current employee.
Deputies responded to a Wendy's restaurant on George Washington Memorial Highway Tuesday evening.
The victim shared that a former employee of the restaurant, who was terminated about a month before, entered the business around 7:15 p.m. through an unsecured door. He reportedly concealed his identity with a Halloween mask.
According to GCSO, one of the employees said the masked man then left the building through the same door and did not encounter anyone while he was inside the business.
Later, another employee went outside to see who the person was. The employee found the former employee, 35-year-old Jamie Tate, unmasked and holding a gun.
Tate allegedly would not let the victim go back into the business and threatened him, but he was able to call for help using his headset microphone. At that time, the deputies were contacted.
Tate ran away before deputies arrived. An extensive search was conducted, but they could not immediately find Tate.
The sheriff's office obtained several warrants for Tate, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, assault and battery, abduction or kidnapping, prohibition of wearing a mask, and brandishing a firearm. Investigators later discovered that Tate was staying in an apartment further north on George Washington Memorial Highway and attempted to serve the arrest and search warrant Wednesday morning.
Investigators say Tate refused to leave his apartment and did not communicate with law enforcement. The standoff between the two parties lasted about seven hours and ended when the GCSO brought in their Tactical Unit.
No one was injured in this incident. Tate is at Northern Neck Regional Jail without bond.
13News Now spoke to one of Tate's neighbors, who called Wednesday night's standoff a scary experience. She said deputies surrounded the apartment and busted out a window to get to Tate.
She called Tate’s demeanor “off” since he lost his job at Wendy’s a few weeks back.
A spokesperson for Wen-GAP, the franchise that owns that Wendy’s, sent 13News Now the following statement:
"As you note, this person is no longer employed with us. Our number one priority is the safety of our employees and customers, and we are grateful no one was harmed. We are committed to doing what we can to ensure our team feels safe and supported following such a scary and unfortunate incident, and we will continue to work with law enforcement on their ongoing investigation."