CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The woman who set a house on fire during a standoff with police early Wednesday morning fired two gunshots inside the house and was taken down by police using a beanbag round.

When it was all over, the fire destroyed the home on Shirley Drive, two other houses were damaged, and the suicidal woman was taken to the hospital before being booked into Montgomery County Jail on arson charges.

The home destroyed by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
The neighbor’s home damaged by fire on Shirley Drive on July 15, 2021. (Angela Peterson)
Three houses were damaged in a fire that started while a woman was threatening suicide on Shirley Drive early July 14, 2021. (Michael Rios, CFR, Contributed)
Three houses were damaged in a fire that started while a woman was threatening suicide on Shirley Drive early July 14, 2021. (Michael Rios, CFR, Contributed)
Three houses were damaged in a fire that started while a woman was threatening suicide on Shirley Drive early July 14, 2021. (Michael Rios, CFR, Contributed)
Three houses were damaged in a fire that started while a woman was threatening suicide on Shirley Drive early July 14, 2021. (Michael Rios, CFR, Contributed)

At about 2 a.m., Clarksville Police were called to the house in the 1000 block of Shirley Drive, where an armed woman was threatening suicide, according to a warrant obtained by Clarksville Now.

A resident there told police her daughter, 25, had found her handgun, said she was going to kill herself, and took the gun to a bathroom.

Officers were able to get the resident to safety, then they entered the home to get the 25-year-old’s son to safety. While they were inside, the woman fired a gunshot that broke a window, the warrant said. Officers backed out of the residence with the child, leaving the woman alone inside.

As officers set up a perimeter, they saw the woman setting a back room on fire, and she fired another shot toward nearby houses.

Once the house was fully engulfed in flames, the woman came out the back of the house with the gun in her hand. Officers tried without success to talk her down, the warrant said.

Officers then used a “less-than-lethal shot gun” to get her to drop the weapon. They then took her into custody.

The less-than-lethal shot gun fires a sand-filled bean bag and, like a taser, is designed to bring a subject into compliance without using lethal force, Sgt. Charles Gill told Clarksville Now.

Officers are trained to fire the weapon at the subject’s shin or buttocks. It’s “very painful” and leaves a massive bruise, Gill said. Anyone hit with such a round is taken to the hospital for medical clearance before being booked into jail.

The woman was charged with arson and two counts of reckless endangerment.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Calls are free, confidential, and are answered 24/7.