Bryant Rose is accused of holding his girlfriend hostage and assaulting her with a gun in their home during an early-morning party.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — Testimony in the jury trial of a Lima man accused of holding his girlfriend hostage in January 2021 began Tuesday afternoon.
Bryant Rose, 37, is charged with second-degree felonious assault with a firearm specification, third-degree felony abduction with a firearm specification and third-degree felony having weapons under disability.
Rose is accused of having an “after-hours” party in the basement of his home on East 4th Street, where people went to continue drinking after the bars closed and arguing with Janiece Spencer, his girlfriend, according to an opening statement from Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Josh Carp. Carp said the two went upstairs to a bathroom and Rose assaulted Spencer with a gun and would not let her leave.
Carp said some partygoers went to check on Spencer and tried to let her out of the bathroom. He said when they were unable to do so, they called the police.
Lima Police Department Patrol Officer Logan Patton testified that he responded with other officers to a report of a man with a gun on Jan. 29, 2021. He said he was met by “utter chaos,” with several people screaming. He said he gathered that “there was a female being held hostage.”
Patton said someone told him, “He is going to kill her.” He said he called hostage negotiations specialists to persuade Rose to come out.
In footage from Patton’s body camera from that morning, women can be heard telling the officer Rose had a gun and he was hurting Spencer. One woman said the gun was loaded.
Patton said officers set up a perimeter around the area and then on their cruiser loudspeakers they told Rose to come outside. He said Spencer came out of the house by herself after about 30 to 45 minutes and was met by a police lieutenant.
Patton said Rose came out after about two hours and was arrested.
Lima Police Department Patrol Officer Zach Carpenter, who also responded to the call, testified that he could see Rose within the house through a sliding glass door with a cell phone in one hand and another object that he could not quite make out in the other. He said he could see Rose because officers shone a light on the home.
Carpenter said Rose went onto the patio from the sliding glass door several times before he eventually came out to be arrested.
Lima Police Identification Officer Mike Carman said he found the magazine to a handgun and two bullets in the home — one of which was in the bathroom.
Testimony will resume Wednesday at 8:45 a.m.
