QUITMAN — Authorities have identified a man who died during a fiery standoff with law enforcement in Brooks County March 2.

Timothy Smothers Jr. was found dead inside a burning mobile home by firefighters and SWAT members after deputies attempts to serve papers on him turned into a standoff, according to a statement from Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Jamy Steinberg.

Brooks County deputies and officers with the Department of Community Supervision went to 13144 Valdosta Highway to serve Smothers warrants for felony entering auto, violation of probation and a search warrant for stolen items, the statement said.

Smothers was in the mobile home but would not come out; Lowndes County’s SWAT team was called in to help, Steinberg said. SWAT members tried to negotiate with Smothers, who would not cooperate, he said.

Chemicals were used to try to force Smothers out; instead, a fire started inside the mobile home, according to the statement. Smothers was seen lying on the floor through a window.

While the mobile home was still burning, SWAT officers and Brooks County firefighters entered and recovered his body, which was located in a rear bathroom/bedroom area.

Smothers was found with a gunshot wound to his chest area; he was taken to South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta but died, Steinberg said. Firefighters put out the blaze.

The GBI was called to investigate and found a pistol in the mobile home that had been reported as stolen, according to the statement. Agents also found one spent shell casing and a projectile in the bathroom area where Smothers had been hiding, Steinberg said. The pistol had been the subject of the search warrant, he said.

An autopsy found a single gunshot wound to Smothers’ chest. No lawmen fired their weapons at Smothers and he did not fire at law enforcement, the statement said.

The case is still active and evidence has been sent to a GBI crime lab, Steinberg said.

Terry Richards is an editor at The Valdosta Daily Times.