One person dead, one officer sustains minor injuries in hours

NEWLAND — One person has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and an officer was injured by shrapnel from a gunshot during a standoff with multiple law enforcement agencies Thursday, Aug. 3, on Pat V. Eller Road near Newland, just off Hickory Nut Gap Road, according to Avery County Sheriff Mike Henley.

"On Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, at approximately 2:59 p.m., Avery County Communications received a call from the Veterans Crisis Hotline and Mountain Home Veterans Hospital indicating an individual had called in threatening to commit suicide and they needed a Welfare Check conducted at the individual’s residence. The caller identified the individual who needed to be checked on as Richard Edward Cousins, Jr., 62, of 115 Pat V Eller Lane, Newland. Additional information was obtained during this same time period that Cousins had also called Compassionate Hearts, with similar statements about committing suicide," the release stated.

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