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New security video obtained by WRAL shows the moments leading up to a tense standoff between a man and Garner police on Sunday.
The standoff played out on Alta Crest Lane in Garner, as severe winter weather swept the Triangle. Ultimately, 32-year-old Nathan Tharp was taken into custody.
The video was shared by Daniel Fontana, who lives just down the street from the home where the standoff happened.
In the video, Garner police officers can be heard yelling ‘get on the ground!’ before a silver Tesla Cybertruck pops into view. The truck plows through Fontana’s fence four separate times, circling his home, before disappearing out of frame. Officers can be heard yelling again, before a series of gunshots echoes through the neighborhood.
“These are actually two pieces of his Tesla that I found,” said Fontana, while walking through his backyard on Tuesday. “If you walk back here, you can see the tree that got split in half. He completely ran this tree over.”
Fontana says he was home at the time and spotted the Cybertruck cutting through his backyard while trying to watch football.
“My wife screamed, like, ‘call the police.’ I stepped outside, and I already saw the police out there,” said Fontana.
According to Garner Police, the standoff started as a domestic violence call. When officers arrived, they saw Nathan Tharp try to run over a woman in the middle of Alta Crest Lane. When Tharp tried to run the woman over a second time, officers attempted to shoot him.
Tharp was uninjured, police say. He crashed his car into another home before running inside. The homeowners were inside and were forced to run out.
Neighbors say Tharp was a veteran dealing with PTSD. That would make him the second veteran to get into a violent confrontation with police just a few miles and hours apart on Sunday. In Johnston County, Anthony Richardson was shot and killed by Sheriff’s deputies while having what his wife tells WRAL was a PTSD episode.
“If we have periods of cold, dark weather, that is going to be detrimental to our mental health,” said psychotherapist Kamala Uzzell.
According to Uzzell, the severe winter storm may help explain the back-to-back incidents. Recent violence in the news – including protests and shootings in Minneapolis – could have contributed as well.
“When you are in a mental health crisis, you have a break from reality. And so you don’t understand exactly what you’re doing, you don’t understand the actions that you’re taking,” said Uzzell.
For his part, Daniel Fontana says this incident has left his family with more than just a $5,000 mess in the backyard. There’s also the haunting question of ‘what if?’
“I have a stepson who’s eight, and he is kind of nervous,” said Fontana. “He’s been a bit scared the first night thinking that, you know, what if? What happens if this happens again?”
WRAL also spoke to the owners of the home, police say Tharp barricaded himself inside.
The owners declined to go on camera, but say the home has been declared unsafe to occupy. Among the painful losses is a car the couple purchased for their daughter before she passed away. The car was smashed in the standoff. The couple is now trying to save both the car and their home.
Neighbors have started a GoFundMe to help the family.
Tharp was eventually taken into custody. He’s facing a long list of charges, including assaulting an officer.
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