WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro attorney told the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety officers that he was the victim of an assault by a man who barricaded himself in the attorney’s home with a gun for 30 to 40 minutes before being arrested.
The altercation started about 5:30 Sunday afternoon after the man, Cleve Arnold Leach, Jr., 36, had come to the attorney’s home to do some work, according to the incident report.
The attorney told WDPS officers that Leach became belligerent, and that his conversation was not making sense. At the same time, the attorney noticed that his 9mm Glock handgun was not where it should be, he told officers.
According to the incident report, the attorney was concerned that the man had taken the gun.
The attorney also told officers that the man then became violent and punched him (the attorney) in the right temple with a fist and grabbed the attorney causing a laceration to the attorney’s right hand.
The attorney said Leach then grabbed the attorney’s wallet and cell phone to prevent him from calling 911.
The attorney was able to exit the home and flee in a vehicle that had been sitting in the driveway and occupied by two male acquaintances. The attorney called 911.
When the officers arrived, the attorney and the other two men returned to the scene where Leach was barricaded in the home.
The WDPS investigator made cell phone contact with Leach and, after about 30 minutes, convinced him to come out of the house. He was arrested and charged with assault and taken to the Fairfield County Detention Center.
Leach has since been released on bond to await trial.