ICYMI: Shooter's Suicide Ended Paulding SWAT Standoff

PAULDING COUNTY, GA -- An hours-long police standoff with a gunman who fired a high-powered rifle at deputies ended late Monday when that gunman took his own life, authorities say.

Repeated efforts by the team to negotiate with 46-year-old Daryl Allan Matheny ultimately failed, the Paulding County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

Paulding deputies were called at about 11:52 a.m. Monday to Matheny's home at 445 Heights Lane, an Acworth address in Paulding County.

A worker with a suicide hotline had called 911, authorities say.

It was later learned that deputies had been called to the same address the previous day for a welfare check and domestic dispute report, but never made contact with Matheny.

When they arrived on Monday, no one answered the front or back door.

As deputies were returning to the front of the house, the sheriff's office says, Matheny fired a high-powered rifle through a window at them. No one was hit by the bullet, but a deputy was injured by flying glass and other debris.

That deputy was treated on the scene for superficial cuts and abrasions.

At that point, the Paulding County Sheriff's Office SWAT team and Crisis Negotiation Team responded to the scene. They immediately opened up a dialogue with Matheny.

Over the course of a standoff that would last roughly 12 hours, the teams "did everything they could to help facilitate a peaceful ending," the sheriff's office said, even calling in Matheny's personal pastor at his request.

But, at some point, Matheny became agitated and broke off telephone contact with the negotiation team, the sheriff's office said. They continually tried calling him again, but he refused to answer.

Paulding and Cobb County SWAT teams began inserting CS gas into the home in an effort to get Matheny to leave. After doing so, they sent a SWAT robot into the home to get an idea of what was going on inside.

Shortly before 11 p.m., the robot allowed SWAT team members to see what appeared to be Matheny's body, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Team members entered the home and confirmed that Matheny appeared to be dead from a self-inflicted wound.

Matheny's body was transported to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab for an autopsy to be conducted.