Local and state police, crisis negotiators and a tactical team surrounded a home in Buxton on Tuesday morning for a would-be standoff, but the man they were looking for had already fled the residence.
Police were called the home of Brady Dix Sr., 44, on Dunnell Road around 9:30 a.m. for a report that Dix was armed with a shotgun and fighting with his adult son, who is also named Brady Dix, Buxton Police Chief Troy A. Cline said.
When police arrived, family members told them the elder Dix was inside and that everyone else had left the home. Police learned Dix was on bail conditions that forbid him from possessing firearms.
Police established a perimeter and called in assistance from other agencies. Officers from surrounding towns converged on the scene and closed Dunnell Road in the area of Dix’s home, which is close to Route 22. Cline did not respond to an interview request.
The response included a state police tactical team and armored police vehicles and crisis negotiators.
Police tried calling Dix by phone and a loud speaker outside, with no success. About four hours after officers locked down the area, they were granted a search warrant for Dix’s home and an arrest warrant for Dix. A team in camouflage entered the home and cleared the residence around 2:30 p.m.
They learned later that Dix had already fled the home a short time after the first officers arrived that morning, Cline said.
“If anyone should see Mr. Dix we would ask that they call the Buxton Police Department immediately,” Cline said following the incident. “We do have an arrest warrant for him. Do not approach Mr. Dix.”
Cline said Dix may or may not be armed.
“We are going to continue searching for Mr. Dix,” Cline said. “We are hopeful that he will turn himself in and resolve this peacefully.”
Dix’s son, Brady N. Dix, 24, said police came to the home because someone had fired a gun, and that his father is on bail conditions and was scheduled for a court hearing Wednesday. The son said he told officers at the scene that his father had already fled the home, but they proceeded with the tactical team operation anyway.
“They tried to get him for a violation of his bail and he apparently jumped out the window,” Dix’s son said. “They turned it into the standoff because he wouldn’t come out of the house because little did they know, he wasn’t even in the house.”
After the encounter was over and police allowed Brady N. Dix back inside, he said officers damaged property inside and he blamed police for needlessly escalating the situation.
“They blew out my window, tore my whole place apart,” he said.
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