MARLINTON, W.Va. (AP) - A man that police consider a person of interest in the deaths of two people in West Virginia was captured Saturday in Virginia after a 2 1/2 hour standoff with law enforcement that ended when officials coaxed him to toss his guns out of his car before hitting him with a stun gun and taking him into custody, the sheriff said Saturday.
Aaron J. Bussard was captured after two citizens notified police that they spotted him at a gas station about five miles outside of Covington, Virginia, on Saturday morning, said Alleghany County Sheriff Kevin Hall. As the 22-year-old made his way toward Covington in the car that police say he stole from one of his victims, he was stopped by officers, Hall said.
Bussard, who was armed with three guns, refused to get out of the vehicle and threatened to take him own life during the hours-long standoff, Hall said. Police negotiators eventually convinced Bussard to throw two of his guns out of the car and were able to get close enough to use a stun gun on him and take him into custody around 10:50 a.m., he said.
"I'm glad it turned into a peaceful resolution because he indicated that he was going to take his own life or we were going to have to take his life," Hall said.
West Virginia State Police say Bussard is a person of interest in the deaths of two people in Marlinton, a town of about 1,000 people in Pocahontas County. State police would not say Saturday who the victims were or how they were killed, but Hall said that they were Bussard's grandparents.
A trooper from the Marlinton Detachment was conducting a welfare check at a home in Marlinton on Friday afternoon when the trooper found two homicide victims, Police Lt. Michael Baylous said in a statement early Saturday. The trooper also noticed that one of the victims' cars was missing and developed probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for Bussard for grand larceny, Baylous said.
Bussard will be held at the Allegany Regional Jail on a fugitive warrant before being sent back to West Virginia, Hall said.