Temple Man Identified as Suspect in First United Methodist Church Standoff

UPDATE, 8-26-16: The Bell County District Attorney's office has charged Destiny Gregg Suydam of Temple with making a terror threat - a third-degree felony.

Police have released the identify of the man suspected of threatening to shoot churchgoers inside Temple's First United Methodist Church Wednesday night.
According to a Temple PD press release, Destiny Gregg Suydam, 35, of Temple called police at 7:29 PM Wednesday threatening to shoot people inside the church, including himself, and said he would shoot any police who attempted to approach the building.

After setting up a perimeter, police discovered that Suydam had ordered everyone out of the room in which he was holed up. Some were able to leave the church before the standoff began while others were kept in a nearby building by police as they negotiated with the suspect.

After approximately 3 hours, a SWAT team was able to approach the suspect inside the building and capture him after deploying what police called a "less than lethal projectile".

Suydam was taken to Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Temple for evaluation. He was then taken to the Bell County Jail, where he was booked at 5:36 AM Thursday.

The Bell County Jail inmate roster did not list a specific charge for Suydam, as detectives are still investigating the case. They will present their findings to the Bell County District Attorney's Office for review, after which the DA will decide upon the appropriate charge.

We will bring you new information about this case as it becomes available.