Shropshire man, 35, who shot himself dead in police stand-off is named
A man who shot himself after hours in a stand-off with police has been named. James Massey, 35, of Hungerford, near Craven Arms died on December 10.
An inquest into Mr Massey was opened and adjourned by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin coroner John Ellery at Shirehall in Shrewsbury yesterday.
An officer from the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the events that led up to Mr Massey's death, was also in attendance.
The coroner was told that Mr Massey and a woman had been out for the night on December 9 but the evening had ended in an argument on returning home.
The woman later received a text message that made her fear for the safety of Mr Massey, and discovered he had left his home and taken a shotgun with him, leaving a note.
She called police who closed off the B4368 between Craven Arms and Morville and asked people to avoid the area. But despite "several hours" of negotiating Mr Massey shot himself, and was later pronounced dead while being rushed to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in an ambulance.
An IPCC spokesman said that an investigation into the circumstances of the death was opened as a matter of routine, due to the involvement of police.
He said a trained negotiator had attended the incident and a firearm was recovered from outside the property.
The IPCC could not comment further as the investigation is ongoing.
At the time of the incident, Sam Cook, operational communications officer for West Mercia Police, said: "Police initially responded to a call at 2.37am raising concern for the safety of the man.
"Officers were deployed to the property. No other members of the public were involved in the incident.
"West Mercia Police is not treating the death as suspicious."
The inquest has been adjourned until March 16.
