Photos: Greg Garreans and Kip Swadley
Three armed men went to a Briarcliff residence to retrieve an allegedly stolen assault-type rifle, but things went very wrong. Two of them wound up disarmed and flat on the ground staring into the barrel of a pistol wielded by the homeowner.
The two men who ended up being held captive — 29-year-old Greg Garreans and 28-year-old Kip Swadley — were in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday where they each pled not guilty to aggravated assault charges.
Both men were ordered to reappear in circuit court Jan. 23.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the third man, who was reportedly armed with a sword and known only as Alex, jumped into a vehicle the trio had driven to the residence and fled. He left his two friends prone on the ground, with the armed homeowner standing guard over them until law officers could arrive.
Alex is still being sought.
The action took place Sept. 19, just after 7:30 a.m. when Baxter County deputies responded to a call reporting armed men were threatening a homeowner at a residence along Ben Nevis Drive in Briarcliff.
When the deputies arrived, they found Garreans and Swadley unarmed and on the ground. Garreans was in the yard and Swadley was in the driveway.
The homeowner said Garreans was banging on his front door, and he saw he was armed with a shotgun. He told deputies he answered the door with pistol in hand and convinced both Garreans and Swadley to lay down their weapons.
The event was captured on the homeowner’s video surveillance system. The video showed Garreans at the front door and Swadley standing next to a boat in the driveway. Both were carrying 12-gauge shotguns. Deputies reported the pair had brought extra ammunition with them. The third suspect was standing in the street armed with a sword.
According to court records, the entire episode was based on bad information. Garreans told deputies he had discovered his AR-15 rifle missing on the morning of Sept. 19 and believed a house guest had taken it. A neighbor informed Garreans he had talked with the house guest on the telephone and told Garreans the suspected thief and the allegedly stolen weapon were both at the Ben Nevis Drive residence.
After the call Garreans, Swadley and the man named Alex all armed themselves and went looking for the suspect and the rifle, according to the probable cause affidavit.
It was shortly after arriving at the residence the trio ran into the problem ending in their arrest, the filing of the aggravated assault charges and Thursday’s court appearance.
They had the wrong house. The homeowner said he had never heard of the person suspected of taking the rifle, and neither the man nor any kind of stolen weapon had ever been in his house
Both Garreans and Swadley told deputies they intended no harm and only brought the loaded shotguns in case someone at the residence shot at them.
Garreans and Swadley are both free on bonds of $10,000.
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