Shooter commits suicide after night of mayhem

MILLS RIVER — A heavily armed Mills River man took his own life after shooting up a house and setting it on fire and leading law officers on a chase from Henderson to Transylvania County and back before finally stopping on N.C. 191, where officers surrounded him, the Henderson County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

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The man was identified as Tommy Brittain, 51. No deputies or other officers were injured even though Brittain shot at them as he was eluding arrest, the sheriff's office said.

The mayhem started at 5 p.m. when someone called 911 from 326 Dream View Drive near Mills River and told a dispatcher that a man armed with an assault rifle and other weapons was shooting up the house while warning that if law officers tried to do anything about it or approach the residence he would take them out. Before deputies got there, the man set the house on fire and drove away. Deputies responding to the call took fire from the fleeing vehicle. Officers with the Brevard Police Department and Transylvania County Sheriff's Office spotted Brittain in Transylvania County and gave chase, and the fugitive again fired at his pursuers.

The chase came back into Henderson County on N.C. 280. The subject turned onto N.C. 191 traveling toward Hendersonville. Near the intersection of North Rugby Road and South Rugby Road the vehicle stopped on the right shoulder of the roadway. Law officers from the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, Fletcher Police Department, Hendersonville Police Department, the Laurel Park Police Department and the North Carolina Highway Patrol converged on the area and surrounded the vehicle.

Members of a joint SWAT team made up of Henderson County sheriff's deputies and Hendersonville police officers approached the subject in an armored rescue vehicle and attempted to negotiate a non-violent surrender. Brittain then took his own life.