Macon man with a gun was barricaded in downtown hospital restroom, then shot himself

This story has been updated

A Macon man fatally shot himself early Thursday at the Atrium Health Navicent hospital in downtown Macon after he barricaded himself inside a restroom with a gun and held off police for several hours, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said.

Christopher Clyde Valentine Sr., 49, killed himself at about 12:45 a.m., according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Valentine was first reported to have locked himself inside a medical building bathroom with a pistol at about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Valentine was barricaded inside the Medical Office Building at 770 Pine Street, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies and a Bibb County SWAT team negotiated with the man for several hours before trying to force the door open.

He shot himself when the SWAT team tried to enter the bathroom, according to the news release. Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said Valentine’s family was notified of his death.

It’s unclear what prompted Valentine to do this. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that he showed up at an open building at the medical center shortly after 9 p.m. asking for help.

Sheriff David Davis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the man, who was walking on crutches, did not make it clear what help he wanted before he locked himself in a bathroom near the emergency room.

After he walked down the hall and barricaded himself in the restroom, Valentine fired shots through the door, Davis told the AJC. Sheriff’s deputies, and later the sheriff himself, tried to talk to the man.

“He really didn’t want to talk much,” Davis said. “Even when we were setting up to talk, he fired off a couple of rounds.”

No one else was hurt in the incident.

At one point during the hours-long negotiation process, the sheriff and some deputies slipped a camera and phone into the bathroom to communicate with Valentine. He never used the phone and shot at the camera, Davis said.

The suspect repeatedly shot his gun during the negotiation, and the sheriff’s office used tear gas to try to subdue him after he was “a danger to himself.”

“At that point, he took his own life. ... That’s a sad end to something we don’t want to see,” Davis told the AJC.

The man had asked to speak with Davis and deputies he knew from his time in jail, where he had been held earlier this month on a probation violation, the AJC reported.

It was unclear Thursday morning why Valentine had been in jail for a probation violation, though court records showed that he had been charged with shopliting in July 2023. A court document shows that Valentine was given an OR bond, an agreement that allows someone to be released without paying the bond if they are not able, on Jan. 4 of this year.

Davis said Valentine had been released from jail Jan. 8, according to the AJC. Some of the deputies the man tried to talk to were ones he knew from his recent jail stint, the sheriff said.

Rumors spread on Facebook late Wednesday night after several police cars showed up at Atrium to respond to a call about a man barricaded inside a restroom with a gun.

Atrium Health Navicent officials said the medical center’s operations were briefly impacted by the standoff, but returned to normal relatively quickly.

“We are grateful for our hospital police and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance with an armed individual, who barricaded themself in an isolated space in an adjacent medical office building late last night,” the statement read. “While our emergency department was temporarily on restricted access, once it was determined the situation was contained and our teammates and patients were safe, the continuity of care for our community was reestablished.”

Some information for this story came from our media partners, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Georgia Public Radio.

This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 10:34 AM.