The man who killed himself to end an hours-long police standoff in Raymond on Tuesday had an angst-filled view of law enforcement, according to officials.
Richard Barry Lowery, 52, was identified Wednesday morning as the person who holed up in a stranger’s residence for nearly six hours. Negotiators, SWAT team members, and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office attempted to convince him to surrender, but to no avail as the situation ended with Lowery dying.
Darkhorse Press, which was on the scene, first connected Lowery to a photo that circulated on social media a week ago. In it, a man wearing a bulletproof vest was posted outside the Mississippi Department of Public Safety headquarters in Jackson with a profane-laden sign aimed at Commissioner Sean Tindell and the FBI.
DPS officials confirmed to SuperTalk Mississippi News that Lowery is, in fact, the man in the photo. While Tindell has not publicly commented on the matter, he previously addressed the “vulgar” sign in a social media post last Thursday.
“Some of you may have seen a man outside DPS Headquarters holding a vulgar sign aimed at me and other agencies,” he wrote. “This individual has no affiliation with the Department of Public Safety. He believes MBI has hacked his devices, reprogrammed his phone into foreign languages, and placed surveillance equipment throughout his mobile home. He’s upset that I haven’t ordered MBI to stop doing something they’ve never done.”
Around 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, law enforcement attempted to detain Lowery over a court-ordered warrant to check into a psychiatric facility. He then fled in his car and eventually crashed into the gate of a home in the 3600 block of Bill Downing Road.
Lowery then went inside the home and barricaded himself inside with a gun. The occupants of the residence were in the yard when he gained access to the property.
Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones announced around 8:15 p.m. that the situation ended with Lowery dying “from a self-inflicted gunshot wound that appears to be to the head.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation continues to look into the situation.
