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Man pleads, sentenced for armed standoff
standoff suspect photo bigger
Ryan Alexander Messer will serve five years in prison and 10 years on probation after pleading guilty to charges stemming to a November 2013 standoff with police in Flemington. - photo by File photo

A Flemington man involved in an armed stand-off with police in October 2013 entered into a plea agreement in Liberty County Superior Court Monday.

Under the agreement, Ryan Alexander Messer will serve five years in prison and 10 years on probation. He will get credit for time served. According to public record, Messer was in jail from his arrest until he posted $33,100 cash bail on Nov. 10, 2014.

Messer accepted the deal before Superior Court Judge Robert Russell. The deal was negotiated by Messer’s attorney, John Ely, and and Atlantic Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Melissa Poole.

The standoff took place Oct. 5, 2013, when police responded to a home on Woody Court in reference to an attempted suicide call. Hinesville Police Department officers Shane Brazier and Christopher Goldston were the first to arrive, according to the initial incident report.

After hearing a male voice from behind a privacy fence two officers called out and asked the man to step outside the fence to talk. The man, later identified as Messer, refused and

when asked to show what he had in is hands, held up a pistol for the officers to see.

Messer then climbed on the roof of his home, pistol in hand, and threatened to shoot the officers. Brazier called for backup.

Messer became confrontational with law enforcement officers and went back inside the home a few times. Each time he reappeared, he had a different handgun. At one point he appeared on the roof with an assault rifle and wearing body armor.

Messer also threatening Brazier, Det. James Chapman and Hinesville Police Capt. Chuck Woodall, who was serving as a negotiator.

When Messer pointed his firearm at the officers, Brazier fired his shotgun and Chapman fired his hand gun. Messer was hit in the right arm and hand and was taken to Memorial Health Hospital in Savannah.

Messer was charged with three counts of aggravated assault against law enforcement officers, three counts of use of a firearm by a convicted felon during the commission of a crime and two counts of possession of firearms by a convicted felon. According to public records Messer was convicted of domestic violence in Kane County, Illinois, in 2006.

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