A 65-year-old Crestview man says he still cannot return to his home nearly a week after the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office fired tear gas through the windows, leaving the residence contaminated.
Gary Johnson said he and others had to wear protective masks to enter the home on CB Drive off Old Bethel Road, because the residue causes burning and itching in the nose and throat. He said the sheriff’s office originally told him he could return after 48 hours, but the irritation forced him back outside after just a couple of minutes.
The sheriff’s office said it had “solid information” that Johnson’s grandson, Tony Byrd, was inside on July 16, but Byrd was never found. Byrd is a person of interest in a July 8 Crestview murder and faces the agency’s warrants for trafficking methamphetamine. Johnson said Byrd was not at the home and that he has no contact with him. In a statement, the sheriff’s office defended the operation as “unfortunate but unavoidable” given the information it had.