Standoff comes to peaceful end for man demanding deputies shoot him

Published 12:10 am Wednesday, October 12, 2022

ENOCHVILLE — A man brandishing, at one point, two knives and telling police they needed to shoot him ended peacefully after several hours Sunday afternoon according to Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies.

Reports indicate Luis Felipe Sanchez, 25, and his wife were arguing, apparently over domestic chores, when Sanchez’ wife hit him, then left the house, prompting him to call 911.

When deputies arrived at the house in the 100 block of Orchard Avenue about 1 p.m., Sanchez’ wife had returned home. She came out onto the porch to talk to officers, telling them her husband tried to strangle her during their argument. She said her husband had cut his wrist and was bleeding.

One of the deputies then spotted Sanchez through a porch window. Sanchez was pacing back and forth and began shouting at the deputies that they would have to shoot him. At one point, according to the report, it looked as though Sanchez might put down the large knife he was holding, but instead, he came toward the porch, causing deputies to back off and call for additional assistance.

Sanchez went back into the house and when he was seen again, he had a large knife in his right hand and a smaller one in the left, and was bleeding badly from a wound on his left arm. He refused commands to drop the knives. Deputies called in his brother to see if that might help defuse the situation. It did not.
Deputies continued to try to negotiate with Sanchez and eventually one officer was able to get inside the home and get Sanchez to drop the weapons.

EMS bandaged Sanchez’ wrist, then he was taken to the hospital where he received stitches. He was then transported to the magistrate’s office and charged with assault on a female, which carried no bond because it is a domestic incident.