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Man arrested after active shooter call

Williams

ELKINS — An Elkins man was taken into custody Friday morning after an active shooter call was received by the Elkins Police Department.

Joshua Norman Williams, 33, has been charged with false reporting an emergency incident and possession of a controlled substance. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail. No bond had been set as of Monday evening.

Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon said in a press release he heard a radio call by EPD Officer Brandon Tice saying that he was at the site of the active shooter call, a home on Goff Street, at about 10:18 a.m. Monday. Elbon arrived on scene to assist and “it was determined that this residence … was out of the city limits,” he wrote in the press release. “I assumed command at this point.”

Officers learned that Williams had allegedly “ran out on his porch and yelled to someone across the street that shots were fired, call the police,” the release states. Officers observed someone hiding in the garage of the home, and ordered him to come out. Williams emerged from the garage “carrying a 24” breaker bar and a wood chisel.”

Williams was “ordered to drop the tools and come forward,” according to the release. He then told officers that his mother and two children had been shot and were inside the house. Williams “was cuffed and placed in the cruiser until the scene was secure and officers could locate the alleged shooter.” He also told officers that someone had been “bludgeoned in the bathroom.”

West Virginia State Police troopers and additional EPD officers arrived at the scene, and Randolph County EMS staged a response area at Autozone on Harrison Avenue, the release states.

“Myself and (EPD) Chief (Travis) Bennett decided that city SWAT members, state and county officers would enter the home quickly because of the reported wounded woman and children inside,” Elbon wrote in the release. “Officers cleared the home and could not find any wounded victims.”

Williams allegedly yelled from the cruiser that “one of the shooters was inside a jeep sitting outside of a nearby business,” the report states. “This turned out to be false as well.”

The release states that “family members (of Williams) arrived on scene and advised that (Williams) has been having PTSD issues recently and has also been on meth.”

While inside the home, officers found “an AR-15, a hunting rifle, a shotgun and multiple knives … strewn about the residence,” Elbon writes in the release. “I observed a prescription bottle lying by the door in the floor where we entered the home. I observed the prescription that had (Willliams’) name on it. Inside was a straw and several pills not consistent with the name listed on the bottle.”

Willliams “was extremely agitated and was hallucinating and seeing other shooters,” Elbon wrote. Williams “was transported to TVRJ and will be arraigned once he is sober and no longer under the influence.”

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