Tax protester surrenders
A landowner with "strong anti-government attitudes" surrendered after a daylong standoff with police in Viola Thursday that included a gunfire exchange, tear gas and a house fire, authorities said. No one was injured.
Officers who tried to contact 60-year-old Robert Bayliss in the afternoon were fired upon, then returned fire and deployed tear gas, according to Darin Gudgeon, emergency management director for Richland County in southwestern Wisconsin.
Then a fire started in the home; Bayliss surrendered soon afterward and was taken into the custody of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, said Gudgeon, a deputy with the department.
The fire had been contained Thursday evening. The cause remained under investigation, Gudgeon said.
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He faces a charge of intentionally pointing a firearm at a law enforcement officer.
