Dana Lane recovers from standoff's violent end

Jerry Pittman Jr. never pictured his home on the typically quiet Dana Lane as the scene of a standoff between a friend and authorities – but during a two-day ordeal, it was.

Pittman, 21, still was trying to process the entire ordeal – from his friend, Thomas “Austin” Rose, arriving Monday at the five-bedroom home, barricading himself in the home alone, shooting himself in the head and then clinging to life at a local hospital.

“He got dropped off here by a girl, then the next thing I know Nash County’s here,” Pittman said, referring to the Nash County Sheriff’s Office.

Rose, 22, had been on the run since earlier this month when officers tried to serve him warrants on a probation violation and other charges, Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins said. The standoff began after a tip led authorities to his location around 1:20 p.m Monday. Around 2 a.m. Tuesday, authorities lost contact with Rose. A robot had been sent in to locate him around 8 a.m., and about 9:15 a.m. two S.W.A.T. team members went into the home as Rose shot himself, Jenkins said.

Rose was in critical condition when he was flown to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville after initially being rushed to Nash General Hospital, said Sandi Paige, Nash General Hospital’s director of quality and risk management. His condition at Pitt was unknown at presstime because he was not listed in the hospital’s directory.

After spending most of the day Tuesday waiting for authorities to complete their investigation at his home, Pittman and a group of friends cleared police tape and put up “No Trespassing” signs. They attached plastic coverings to the home’s windows – blown out by gas bombs. They cleaned Rose’s blood out of the kitchen’s pantry, where he reportedly shot himself.

Rose had been inside the home, armed with a gun, for about 20 hours as authorities from Nash County Sheriff’s Office, Rocky Mount Police Department, N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, N.C. Highway Patrol and Rocky Mount Fire Department negotiated for a safe ending. Officers communicated with Rose by phone, through text messages and by loudspeaker. Neighbors who gathered near the home on Tuesday morning said they heard pleas for Rose to surrender throughout the night.

“You want to take as much time as you can, hopefully to have a positive outcome. So, I think we waited about as long as we could,” Jenkins said about the decision to finally go into the home.

More than 60 officers were part of the effort, there was no exchange of gunfire and no officers were injured in the incident, officials said.

Rose is listed as an absconder from probation supervision on the N.C. Department of Correction Web site. He has been convicted of a number of crimes related to breaking and entering, property damage and larceny in Edgecombe, Warren, Nash, Wilson and Halifax counties dating back to 2004.

A number of people, including Rose’s mother and father, tried to talk him into surrendering, but Rose only occasionally peeked out of the blinds at the house, Pittman said.

Pittman, who waited outside his home with no shirt or shoes during the ordeal, said he’s upset about his house being a crime scene. He said he will be staying in a hotel until he figures out what to do next.

“All of the windows are knocked out from the tear gas. There are holes knocked in the wall and the ceiling. The floors are burned from the tear gas,” Pittman said, unsure if insurance will cover repairs.

Pittman, who said he’s known Rose for four years, also isn’t sure why Rose came to his home.

“It was kind of random,” Pittman said. “We didn’t hang out much since he’s been out of prison.”