Deadly Standoff At Home Near Grand Lake Investigated By Delaware County Sheriff's Office

The Delaware County Sheriff's Office is investigating what led to a deadly standoff at a home near Grand Lake just outside of Grove.

Deputies said several agencies responded and for a short time, it turned into a "potential hostage situation" involving four other people.

Sheriff James Beck said this isn’t the first time Delaware County deputies had encountered Gary Combs.

Investigators believe 55-year-old Gary Combs shot and killed himself after holding four people as hostages for a short time, and keeping law enforcement at bay for a nearly eight-hour standoff.

“It didn’t end the way I would have liked to have seen it end, but I have nothing but good things to say about how we handled that and how the other agencies acted,” said Sheriff James Beck, Delaware County.

Sheriff Beck said Combs violated a protective order at the same house earlier this month.

“There had been some prior arrests for protective order violations,” said Sheriff Beck. “One of the residents of that house is his wife or soon to be ex-wife.”

Sherriff Beck said Combs forced his way into the house after midnight, while four people were inside.

Deputies believe some gunshots might have been fired off inside the house before they arrived and possibly one other round when they got there.

The victims escaped and deputies said Combs was seen inside, waving around a gun.

After a few hours of negotiations, Sheriff Beck requested additional help from the OHP Tactical Team.

He said they heard a single gunshot inside the double-wide shortly after state troopers arrived on scene and just before they began breaking out windows.

“Point gas into the house and then as they were venting some of those windows to allow that gas to flow through the house is whenever they seen Mr. Combs,” said Sheriff Beck.

Officers discovered Combs dead on a bed. Sheriff Beck said no one else was hurt.

Sheriff Beck is grateful to his deputies, Grove Police, OHP, and the GRDA for their help.