Editor’s note, 3:45 p.m. Oct. 3, 2018: See updates to this story from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) here: http://bartlett-express.com/2018/10/03/tbi-continues-investigating-wednesdays-fatal-shooting-in-bartlett-home/.
A man identified by neighbors as Toby Bailey is dead after an early-morning barricade Wednesday and a barrage of gunfire at his Stage Road home in Bartlett.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is currently on scene, investigating the incident. Reportedly, the man recently lost his job with a janitorial service and couldn’t find other work because of his arrest records. After drinking, he barricaded himself in his home.
His wife and children got out, and then SWAT officers and family tried to convince him to surrender.
A female neighbor recorded some of the pleas made over loudspeaker around 12:15 a.m., including a woman coaxing him, saying, “We care about you, and we are concerned about you.”
She also heard officers asking the man via loudspeaker to turn on interior lights so they could see him better and ensure he was complying with their instructions. They also tried unsuccessfully to talk the man into coming outside.
“It’s clear he’s begging this guy to come out,” she said, listening to the recording on her phone.
She was alarmed when she saw officers dressed in black tactical gear arriving with large weapons and walking across her yard to the scene. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It was so scary.”
A male neighbor said he got home around 9 or 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and his nearby street was already blocked off. Police had the perimeter secured and would not let him pass immediately.
A second female neighbor questioned why they were not evacuated from the area while the volatile barricade went on. She was worried that bystanders could get injured. She also speculated that the many cop cars and flashing blue lights might have alarmed the man too much for him to emerge.
The first female neighbor played her recording of five shots coming from Bailey’s home — single shots that were spaced a half minute or more apart. Next was a burst of 10-12 shots and finally one loud boom at the end.
According to law enforcement reports, SWAT officers deployed tear gas into the home and entered around 1:30 a.m.
Wednesday. When Bailey raised his pistol toward the officers, at least two of them fired shots. A third killed a Rottweiler inside the home.
The first neighbor said that, eventually, fire engines and an ambulance arrived to join more than a dozen police cars at the scene.
Bailey, a father of four, was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no law enforcement injuries.
