Hostage: Accused Captor Wanted Police to Kill Him

Fayetteville, N.C. — A man charged with holding a Fayetteville convenience store clerk hostage Wednesday night before surrendering wanted police to kill him because he was depressed, the clerk said Thursday.

Jeffrey Deaver, 21, of 6934 Brockwood St., was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping. He was being held in the Cumberland County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.

Clerk Tina Adkins, 50, said she triggered the silent alarm after a man armed with a knife and a gun entered the Lucky 7 store, at 7601 S. Raeford Road, at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Sgt. Chris Davis of the Fayetteville Police Department said an officer responding to the alarm entered the store and was confronted by a man brandishing "some type of black handgun." That prompted the department's Emergency Response Team and hostage negotiators to be called to the scene.

During an ensuing two-hour standoff, the gunman told police that the handgun was actually a BB gun, Adkins said.

After an initial scuffle in which she clubbed the gunman with a jewelry case and was dragged by her hair to a back room in the store, Adkins said, her captor was very polite. He was sipping Heineken beer, while she had a Mountain Dew and smoked during the incident.

"He promised me he wasn't going to hurt me, and he wanted me to call the police and tell them to come down here and kill him," Adkins said.

He told Adkins he was depressed because his younger brother had died, and he wanted to end his life. But he felt suicide was a sin, so he decided to take a hostage to try to get police to shoot and kill him, Adkins said the gunman told her.

"I think he really made a bad choice. He's not a bad kid. I think he needs some kind of medical help," Adkins said.

About two hours after the incident began, Adkins was released without injury and ran to safety.

About 15 minutes later, the Emergency Response Team entered the store, deployed two “flash-bangs,” or stun grenades, and took Deaver into custody without incident.

“I understand there are several rooms in the store, and I don’t think (police) knew his initial location. And to temporarily distract the suspect, they did throw two flash-bangs,” Davis said.

Deaver's mother, who didn't want to give her name, told WRAL that Deaver's brother died as a toddler 15 years ago. She said she wasn't aware her son had experienced such difficulty dealing with the loss over the years and said she didn't know why he suddenly wanted to have police kill him.