Hostage recalls standoff: 'I might have been dead’ - Greensboro (NC) News-Record

After suicide attempt and stay at Butner, man tries again.

By Ryan Seals and Dioni Wise
Staff Writers
Saturday, Jun. 7, 2008

BROWNS SUMMIT — Candice Dobson, barefoot with scratches on her shoulder and disheveled hair pulled into a ponytail, looked at the house in which she was kept hostage for 13 hours.

Recalling her training as a Navy master-at-arms, she said, "If I hadn't been trained, I might have been dead and not looking at this house right now."

She stood in front of 4935 Old Way Road only hours after deputies shot 20 rounds of tear gas into the house and ended a standoff with her former boyfriend, Charles Alton Grinnall.

Dobson, 25, said the day started with a gun to her head and her hands cuffed behind her back.

It ended with giving a statement to the authorities and returning to the scene of the crime because she had nowhere else to go.

Dobson said she hadn't eaten in a day.

"It's been the longest 24 hours of my life," she said.

At 5:21 a.m. Friday, Dobson escaped the fume-ridden house, followed by an unarmed but combative Grinnall, and surrendered to Guilford County sheriff's deputies. No injuries were reported.

Grinnall, 36, was arrested and later charged with one count each of kidnapping, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting twice at an officer.

Bond was set at $1 million. He is being held in Guilford County jail in Greensboro.

Col. Randy Powers, chief deputy of the sheriff's office, said Roger McKinney called 911 about 3:26 p.m. Thursday to report a domestic disturbance.

In the 911 call, McKinney said he believed Dobson wanted to end her relationship with Grinnall and Grinnall thought McKinney was to blame.

McKinney reportedly fled the house after being shot at by Grinnall but was unharmed.

Officers arrived three minutes later, and the standoff began.

Throughout the night, Grinnall expressed his intention for deputies to end his life, threatening that if authorities moved to enter the home, he would kill Dobson and as many deputies as possible.

He made multiple ultimatums — demanding to speak to his mother and for authorities to restore power to the home within a specific amount of time — or else he would shoot his hostage.

In both cases, Grinnall's deadlines passed, and he didn't carry out his threats.

"That's when we started having doubts (about his intentions) because the (specific time) went by," Sheriff BJ Barnes said. "It became a waiting game."

The sheriff said he was initially willing to wait as long as it took for the standoff to end peacefully without deputies having to use force.

But that plan changed, Barnes said, when Dobson didn't take advantage of multiple opportunities negotiators told her she had to escape. That made authorities question whether they truly had a hostage situation on their hands.

"We talked to her over the phone, and we asked her at one point to run out the back door," Barnes said.

"We had officers surrounding the house ... trying to decide when we could go in.

"She basically told us no. That's when things started changing for us, and we decided we were going to enter the house."

Following questioning after the standoff, authorities determined Dobson was in fact being held hostage and not in collusion with Grinnall.

Powers said deputies have previously fielded calls to the house, which Barnes said belongs to Grinnall's mother.

On May 25, deputies responded there when Grinnall attempted suicide by cutting his wrists, Powers said.

Grinnall initially resisted the aid of officers and EMTs but was taken to Wesley Long Hospital for treatment.

"At that time, we knew that he didn't like law enforcement or medical personnel," Powers said.

After the suicide attempt, Grinnall was admitted to John Umstead Hospital in Butner, where he was released after three days, officials said.

The hostage situation was another attempt by Grinnall to end his life, Powers said.

"He actually told us he wanted us to kill him," he said.

But deputies didn't follow his plan. Powers said opening fire would have endangered neighbors and Dobson.

"At the time, we didn't have a clear target," Powers said. "You can't just indiscriminately shoot."

He said Grinnall seemed to know how the officers would have entered the home and threatened to kill the hostage, shoot at the officers and then shoot himself.

Court records show that Grinnall was indicted in September in Rockingham County on a charge of second-degree arson in connection with a fire set on June 9 at Dobson's home at 734 Caleb St. in Eden.

That charge was dismissed in April because of insufficient evidence.

A note in the court file said "statements indicating guilt cannot be admitted, as it would violate the marital privilege."

Records reviewed by

the News & Record do not indicate that Grinnall was married.

In April, Grinnall was convicted in Rockingham County of felony breaking and entering and larceny, and received a three-year suspended sentence, according to the N.C. Department of Correction.

Sheriff's officials couldn't explain how Grinnall could have still been on the streets given such an extensive record.

"I don't know why he was out on the street with that record," said Sheriff's Maj. Tom Sheppard. "But I don't think it will happen again, or at least for a while."

A special condition of his probation was that he take prescribed medicine as directed, according to court records, but the records do not indicate what medication he was taking.

Barnes said Grinnall was previously involved in a hostage standoff in California but that the situation did not involve weapons.

Grinnall also was involved in another standoff in Virginia, according to a sheriff's department news release.

Specific information about those incidents was not available Friday.

On Thursday, Grinnall fired as many as 18 shots during the first several hours of the standoff.

According to court records and Barnes, Grinnall fired several rounds at Deputy J.S. Shavers, who was the first officer to respond to the call.

Court records state Grinnall fired a magazine of 15 rounds at Shavers' head as he took cover behind a tree.

Barnes said one round struck the deputy's car, but he was not injured.

Deputies and other authorities did not fire throughout the entire standoff.

Authorities evacuated 12 homes in the neighborhood and nearby businesses. They also blocked off nearby roads, delaying rush-hour commuters on U.S. 29.

Terry Moody, of 4936 Oldway Road, said his wife, Tara, heard shots and called him home from a doctor's visit. Tara Moody works at the day care center next door, Kids Play at Old Way.

"It was pretty unreal there for a long time," Terry Moody said. "There were bullets flying around my yard. I could see the dirt flying."

Eighteen people, including Moody, were evacuated from the day care center and taken to Monticello-Brown Summit Elementary, where the children were picked up by their parents.

The Moodys stayed at a relative's house in McLeansville on Thursday night,

while the SWAT team camped out at their house across the street from the Grinnall residence.

Moody said he didn't socialize with the Grinnalls much in what he described as a neighborhood of "kinfolk." He said he'd like to know the background of any future neighbors.

"There ought to be a way that we should be aware of if somebody's got a record," Moody said.

More than 50 cars from the sheriff's office, the Greensboro Police Department, Guilford County Emergency Services and the Highway Patrol were on the scene late Thursday. Roads in the area were closed but reopened about 7 a.m. Friday.

On Friday, at least a dozen cars, including the sheriff's crime lab van and a fire truck, were at the scene.

Sheppard said officers were searching the house for evidence from the standoff. Some investigators wore masks and air packs because the tear gas remained prevalent.

"Obviously the thing they're trying to recover is the gun," Sheppard said.

He said they were looking for a 9 mm gun described by Dobson.

Reports from the search were not available Friday.

"We're working on this and it's going to take awhile," Sheppard said.

Staff writers Jonnelle Davis, Jason Hardin and Joe Killian contributed to this story.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7059 or dioni.wise@news-record.com

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