Alvarado man killed in shootout had just stolen a ‘Dirty Harry’ gun, pawn shop owner says

The 30-year-old man who was killed after a shootout with Johnson County law enforcement on Wednesday had tried to pay $675 for a “big, Dirty Harry, massive gun” just hours before, a Mansfield pawn shop owner said.

Nathan Lee Bailey was pronounced dead at 1:50 p.m. after he used the Smith & Wesson Model 686 .357 caliber pistol he stole from the pawn shop, fled from deputies and staged a nearly three-hour standoff that ended in his shooting, according to Johnson County authorities and Patrick Blanton, owner of Guaranteed Pawn.

Blanton said Bailey came into his shop off Heritage Parkway in Mansfield at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday.

Bailey walked right over to the gun case and swung open a small wooden door employees use to get behind the counter, Blanton said in a phone interview Thursday night.

“If he wanted to, he could have easily gotten past it,” Blanton said. Bailey appeared to be about 5-feet-11 and weighed 190 pounds.

Blanton stopped him and said only employees could come behind the counter. Then Bailey said he would like to buy the Smith & Wesson pistol.

His driver’s license was current, and he filled out the form for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that is required for gun purchases.

“He started negotiating a price with me. We went back and forth on the price, and we settled on a price, which was $675. He gave me $700. His wallet was full of $100s,” Blanton said.

But when Blanton called in the information on Bailey’s form to the ATF, he was told that Bailey’s information had been “flagged,” and the bureau would have to investigate, he said.

Blanton was told someone from ATF would call him back within five days.

The shop owner wasn’t alarmed. Such delays are “very common” and people “get flagged for various reasons,” he said

“Your Social Security number could be one number off of someone who has a felony, or you could share the same last name as a family member who has been convicted,” Blanton said of the checks. “It happens one out hree times.”

What was alarming was the change in Bailey’s demeanor when told he couldn’t take the gun immediately. Bailey again tried to walk behind the counter, Blanton said.

“I walked up to him and put my hand out and said, ‘No, you can’t come back here.’ ”

Bailey demanded his money back, Blanton said. He was handing the cash over when Bailey asked if he would sell him the gun if the ATF OK’d it.

“I told him I wasn’t going to sell him the gun no matter what they said, and that’s when he got mad,” Blanton said. Bailey grabbed the gun from Blanton’s hands and ran out the door.

The gun was not loaded and Blanton does not sell ammunition, he said.

After calling 911, Blanton said, he pulled out his own firearm and went outside where Bailey was sitting in a black four-door car. He pointed the gun at Bailey and yelled for him to get out of the Ford Focus he was in.

That’s when Bailey took off, he said.

A Johnson County deputy who had heard the call spotted Bailey’s car going about 100 mph on a highway and followed him, Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said.

The chase ended in the 4000 block of Vista Ridge Lane where Bailey jumped out of the car and ran into the house, the sheriff said.

His father came home from work after a family member called and said his house was surrounded.

Tommy Bailey said he tried to speak to his son on a public address system, but the deputies would not let him in the house.

Nathan Bailey refused to talk to anyone, and fired at officers with the stolen pistol, hitting an electrical box, a trailer and a storage building, the sheriff said.

Eventually, Bailey came out of the house and fired at Department of Public Safety troopers and deputies. They returned fire, killing him.

‘Everything went south’

Tommy Bailey said his son, who worked in a warehouse, had lived with him for about four years. Nathan Bailey had been talking about a girlfriend for a few months.

Nathan Bailey asked his father if she could move in, to which the father said yes, but nothing came of it. His father said he didn’t know the woman’s name.

“As far as I know, he never even had a girlfriend,” Tommy Bailey said in a phone interview late Thursday.

On Jan. 22, a week ago, “everything went south” when his son quit eating, sleeping and started drinking coffee all day and reciting the same verse from the Bible, he said.

“He didn’t mention the girlfriend. He just started talking out of his head and he didn’t know where he was or what time of day it was. I thought maybe the girl he fell for dumped him,” Tommy Bailey said.

On Monday, the father said, he came home to find all the lights on in the house, the air conditioner blasting, and guns laid out.

He said his son had seven or eight guns and three or four “exotic” swords. He was a “fanatic” about his collection, his father said.

“Is somebody out there?” Nathan Bailey asked his father.

He said his son thought someone was after him.

“It’s like he wanted to die, but he knew he couldn’t commit suicide because of what he read in the Bible,” he said.

“Every time I lie down, all I see is my son being shot and falling to the ground,” Tommy Bailey said.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office ruled Thursday that Bailey died of a gunshot to the chest.

Alford said Thursday night that he did not know who fired the fatal shot at Nathan Bailey. Texas Rangers are investigating, and evidence was sent to their labs in Austin.

Blanton got an eerie call from the ATF Thursday afternoon. Bailey was cleared to buy the gun.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Alvarado man killed in shootout had just stolen a ‘Dirty Harry’ gun, pawn shop owner says."