Full details on standoff, lockdowns and dispute that led to it all
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - We’re learning more about a domestic disturbance that sparked an hourslong standoff that put three schools on lockdown and landed a suspect in Aiken County jail.
Zaylan Paige, 20, was arrested Tuesday after deputies surrounded a home where they believed he’d barricaded himself at 1016 Gentle Bend Court.
He was being held Wednesday in Aiken County jail on charges of kidnapping and domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.
The standoff began after authorities received a report around noon Tuesday of a disturbance at the address. Dispatchers told the responding officer a man had a firearm and was threatening to kill the victim.
The officer arrived and saw the victim and suspect inside with Paige assaulting the victim, according to an incident report from the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
Upon seeing the deputy, Paige ran into the house, possibly armed with a handgun, according to deputies.
The deputy got the victim out of the vehicle and many other officers arrived and surrounded the house.
The victim told deputies they were at her grandmother’s house shooting her new firearm when Paige started getting irate with her, stating she was cheating, according to the report.
Upon arriving back at Gentle Bend, they had a verbal dispute in the vehicle that continued into the house, became physical and involved Paige threatening her with a gun, according to the report. The victim managed to get back out to her car but Paige chased her down and began hitting and threatening her, according to the report.
That’s apparently when the responding deputy arrived.
Suspect slips away
It became apparent while officers had the home surrounded that the suspect had slipped out of the house at some point.
Officers weren’t far behind because dispatchers began getting reports of a man jumping fences in the area.
Authorities ultimately found and arrested Paige.
Deputies obtained a search warrant and searched the home for the gun. They found a yellow book bag with a stolen gun inside that had had been tampered with to make the pistol fully automatic, according to the incident report. The bag also contained marijuana and crack, according to the report.
It wasn’t deputies’ first visit to the home on Gentle Bend Court.
In July 2020, they were called there after a 2-year-old shot himself.
When they arrived, they found the boy’s mother sitting on the roadway holding her fatally wounded son.
Also there was Paige, then 18, “frantically running around the scene,” according to a report from deputies.
Authorities said they later learned he’d hidden a handgun in the woods near Village West Lane “in an effort to prevent impede, or interfere with the istration of justice,” according to an arrest warrant. He hid the gun before authorities could process the crime scene and any potential evidence, according to the arrest warrant.
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