Valdosta Police: 3-hour incident with an armed, barricaded subject with active arrest warrants, ends peacefully

VALDOSTA, Ga. – On January 19, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., Valdosta Police Officers were speaking with a victim who reported that he was in Hudson Dockett when a person grabbed his rifle from his vehicle. He stated that the subject pointed the gun at him and demanded money. After grabbing the money, the offender walked away, and the victim drove off. The victim told officers that he did not want to press charges on the offender; he just wanted his rifle back.

At the same time, Valdosta Police Officers received a call about a 26-year-old male, later identified as Quashawn Lamar Little, who had active arrest warrants and had entered an apartment in Hudson Dockett. Officers received information that Little had a rifle when he went into the apartment. The description received through E911 of Little matched the description of the person involved in the theft of the rifle and the robbery. Officers confirmed that Little had several active arrest warrants, for various offenses.

Officers made verbal contact with Little through an open window of the apartment and advised him that he had arrest warrants. Officers told Little that he needed to exit the apartment and turn himself in to law enforcement. Little refused to follow the officers’ command to exit the apartment. Little made allegations that he had a woman held hostage and made threats that he was going to have a shoot-out with officers.

After confirming that Little was the only occupant in the apartment, officers secured the area around the apartment. The Valdosta Police Department Tactical Operations Unit and Crisis Negotiations Unit were activated and responded to the incident. While Negotiators were talking to Little through facetime, they could see that he was in possession of the rifle.

For approximately three hours, Negotiators worked with Little’s family and continued to talk to Little in attempts to have him exit the residence. At 6:00 pm, Little complied with the Negotiators’ command and exited the residence. Members of the Tactical Operations Unit took Little into custody without any further incident. The stolen rifle was located in the apartment.

Further investigation revealed that Little was an offender in a robbery case on January 17, 2026, that occurred at 1305 North Troup Street at 10:00 pm. During this incident, a 44-year-old victim reported that as he was walking out of the convenience store, a male physically assaulted him and took his wallet. The victim in the case had severe facial injuries and was transported to South Georgia Medical Center for treatment. The victim did not know who the male was, but through surveillance video, officers identified the offender as Little and were in the process of obtaining arrest warrants for Little for robbery and aggravated battery.

Little was transported to Lowndes County Jail on the following charges:

• Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon-felony;

• Obstruction of an officer-misdemeanor;

• Robbery- felony;

• Aggravated battery-felony;

• And eight other active arrest warrants not related to this case.

“I am so proud of the team effort from the members of our department. They responded to a very tense and stressful situation and handled it professionally. During this tense time, there was a large crowd of onlookers who were posting videos of the incident on social media, and a few of them were yelling at and harassing officers, even making comments that we wanted to shoot Little. Our team ignored the noise and the agitators and handled the situation perfectly.” Said Chief Leslie Manahan.

Copyright 2026 South Georgia News. All rights reserved.