The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office actually responded to two different domestic disturbance calls at 106 Bob White Circle on Saturday morning.
During the second response, Deputy Alex Rickey was struck in his service vest by a pellet from a 12-gauge shotgun before returning fire. On Monday, Rickey was “cleared of any wrongdoing” by District Attorney Wright Barksdale.
The man at the center of the domestic disturbance calls – Rexell Dallas Rice, 58 – was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death was a “self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area,” according to Barksdale.
During the exchange of gunfire, the deputy managed to strike Rice in the upper torso, and Rice retreated further into the house. At that point is when Rice turned the gun on himself, according to investigators.
The door of the home remained open, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office ultimately flew a drone into the house to survey the scene. At that point, law enforcement and first responders entered.
Five people were inside the home at the time, including Rice. The four others retreated to a bedroom. Included was Rice's ex-wife, and the couple “had recently gone through a divorce,” according to Sheriff Bill Massee.
Rice arrived at the property by boat around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. His ex-wife then confronted him on the dock and “began filming Rexell with her phone,” according to the incident report. Rice then “snatched the phone from her hand and threw into into the lake.” Added the incident report: (The ex-wife) further stated that Rexell picked her up and threw her into the lake as well.”
She then swam to a neighbor's seawall “because she feared Rexell would attempt to drown her.”
Roughly three hours later, the ex-wife, her sister, as well as two neighbors were talking in the front yard when they spotted Rice's truck approaching the property. Rice then parked, got out of his truck, shotgun in hand, and fired at the house.
Rickey wasn't far away when the second 911 call came in. He arrived a short time later, surveyed the scene and took a position behind Rice's truck. That's when Rice opened fire from the vicinity of the front door, and the shots were exchanged.
Rice lived in Putnam County. He had no prior criminal history in Baldwin County. Bob White Circle is located off of Sinclair Marina Road and Kay Avenue.