Michael Dewey Butler: Threatened suicide during five-hour standoff on Sunday with lawmen.

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Adelina Shee

Staff writer

LUMBERTON — A 43-year-old Lumberton man who was charged Sunday with robbing a bank threatened suicide during a standoff with lawmen during which shots were fired, according to Sheriff Kenneth Sealey.

Sealey said Michael Dewey Butler, of 67 Sequoria Drive, was arrested about 6 p.m. at a home on Mt. Olive Church Road after a four-hour standoff that ended when he was flushed from the home with tear gas.

According to Sealey, Butler, who barricaded himself inside the house, was seen with a gun against his head, and told deputies that he would kill himself if they tried to arrest him. Sealey said Butler, who was alone in the home, fired about four shots during the standoff, but it was unclear if any lawmen were targeted. No one was injured.

Sealey said the tear gas was used after State Bureau of Investigation agents, Lumberton police and sheriff’s deputies failed to persuade Butler to surrender peacefully.

Butler is charged with common law robbery and possession of a firearm by felon. He is being held at the Robeson County jail under a $55,000 bond and was scheduled to make his first court appearance today.

Butler is accused of robbing the First South Bank located at 3000 N. Elm St. at Biggs Park Mall on Thursday of an undisclosed amount of money and then fleeing on foot. Lawmen had been looking for him since he was identified on videotape from a security camera.

According to the Robeson County jail, Butler spent time in prison for common law robbery and armed robbery.

The Sheriff’s Office did not want to release information on the exact address of the Mt. Olive Church Road home and who lives there.