Scary event going on right now!

[Brewdude]

Upon driving home after work today, the road in my sub-division just down from my house was all but blocked off. Must have been a dozen cop cars, rescue squads, and 3 news cameras set up in the road with their mobile broadcasting truck and big antenna. Didn't think I was going to be able to get through, but one plainclothes policeman packing heat came out to talk to me.

I asked him if it would be possible for me to get to my house which was about 4 blocks from there, and he said I could try. He added that if the street I wanted was blocked off I'd have to come back owing to what was going on. It looked serious enough that I didn't ask what was happening.

Managed to get home OK, and the next door neighbour was out in his yard so went over to ask him what was happening as he always seems to know about neighbourhood issues.

He laughed and said there were like 200 cops around including SWAT teams, and snipers in trees. Apparently there had been a domestic incident last night and it escalated this morning. Some guy has barricaded himself in his house with guns and is threatening to shoot and kill anyone who comes close!

Sounds like the woman there got out and the cops are trying to get him to surrender, but he's not budging. So it looks like there may be an exchange of gunfire if they don't calm him down. Don't know if drugs are involved but he sounds crazy.

The neighbour said he went partway down there and saw snipers up in trees with long guns. He also said they cut off the telephones, cable TV service and internet there so the guy would have no way of knowing what was taking place as far as the media was concerned, and that the cops wanted direct telephone access to him. In fact the neighbour said that he had no TV or wifi service and didn't think I would either. But I do have internet since it's not wifi and my TV works, so the cutoff must be down from my location.

Right now I have on channel 5, the station that's on the scene but have yet to get a report on this. So I guess right now it's a waiting game.

Frankly, having 200 cops on the scene, SWAT teams, and snipers seems like way overkill for this but what do I know!

I'll report back later with any developments.

Cheers,

RR

 

[idbowman]

Yowza.

I had something similar happen two streets over from me about two years ago. I could get home, but they closed my street shortly after I go through. It's unsettling, but not much to be done by stay safe and keep an eye on the news. If nothing else, it's a sober reminder that nasty situations can pop up anywhere, anytime.

Hopefully the firearms don't get involved and everything gets resolved (comparatively) peacefully.

 

[Stick]

Crickey Rande, that's quite a party. Make sure you report back but in the meantime perhaps keep your head down for a bit. Sounds like there's plenty of boots on the ground though...!

 

[RDPipes]

Not surprised one bit that every cop in town would be there. It's like they get bored all day eating donuts and handing out fix it tickets so they all run when it means something different. Oh! and of course they saying he has 200 guns, and as it goes one I wouldn't be surprised if they say he has tons of drugs and belongs to some subversive organization. Tomorrow when it's all said and done we'll find out he had a BB Gun and a pack of Pall Mall's.

 

[d4klutz]

Not surprised one bit that every cop in town would be there. It's like they get bored all day eating donuts and handing out fix it tickets so they all run when it means something different. Oh! and of course they saying he has 200 guns, and as it goes one I wouldn't be surprised if they say he has tons of drugs and belongs to some subversive organization. Tomorrow when it's all said and done we'll find out he had a BB Gun and a pack of Pall Mall's.

^^This. However, Rande, I am glad you made it home safe and I hope that all works out.

 

[MichaelM]

Not surprised one bit that every cop in town would be there. It's like they get bored all day eating donuts and handing out fix it tickets so they all run when it means something different. Oh! and of course they saying he has 200 guns, and as it goes one I wouldn't be surprised if they say he has tons of drugs and belongs to some subversive organization. Tomorrow when it's all said and done we'll find out he had a BB Gun and a pack of Pall Mall's.

Probably. However I had a similar situation in my neighborhood this past December. The guy managed to escape the first crime scene and went on to kill a total of 5 people including my next door neighbor's son, daughter-in-law, and grand daughter. After watching that play out, I would not question the number of police at something like this. Let's just hope and pray for a peaceful resolution.
Mike.

 

[KevinM]

A show of overwhelming force may discourage the perp or it may nudge the guy into thoughts of going out in a blaze of glory. Why not wait him out? Or tell him him if he doesn't come out you'll send in a Grman Shep or two? Couple years back in my little suburban town, a guy snatched his ex-wife off the street, chained her to the wall in his basement and -- who knows why?? -- phoned the cops to report his plans to burn the house down. The police surrounded the house. The wife in chains heard the back and forth going on and was cool enough to notice that she was chained to an I bolt which she simply unscrewed and walked out the basement door to the police who put her on the phone to her very surprised ex-husband. He told the police he'd come out if they sent her back. They declined. So he set fire to the house and came out after it got too hot to stay. People do crazy things. Let's try not to help them.

 

[Dutch]

Don't know if drugs are involved but he sounds crazy.

Cheers,

RR

Rande, maybe there are no drugs involved, and this is exactly the problem.

I hope things calm down in your neighborhood soon.

 

[Cadfael]

What are you smoking?

 

[DrT999]

People do crazy things. Let's try not to help them.

A mantra for the modern world!

 

[Brewdude]

All is calm right now. Haven't heard anything about this on the local news so don't have a clue as to how it went down. Or maybe it has yet to? Perhaps I'll find out tomorrow.

:|


Cheers,

RR

 

[Wayne_Teipen]

Had a theft/standoff in my old neighborhood several years ago. SWAT team pumped the house full of tear gas and concussion grenades and rammed the SWAT van through the garage. Nearly destroyed the house. Crazy world we live in. Desperate people can do desperate things.

 

[Brewdude]

I missed the TV news spot on this yesterday. My brewery partner/GM just told me he saw it but it wasn't featured prominently. Here's the newspaper article-

Police standoff with armed man ends in North Bend, Wash.
The Associated Press


NORTH BEND, Wash. — A King County sheriff's spokesman says a nine-hour standoff with an armed man in the North Bend, Washington, area has ended after a female hostage was released and the man surrendered, accidentally shooting himself in the chest as he did so.

Sgt. B.J. Myers said the 41-year-old man stumbled as he left the house Tuesday evening, and his gun discharged. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with non-life-threatening injuries. Myers said the man would be booked into the King County Jail after his release from the hospital.

The standoff began after a 911 caller reported that a man had a gun aimed at a woman's head in a house in the Wilderness Rim area outside North Bend. SWAT teams responded.

Negotiators persuaded the man to let the 39-year-old woman leave the house safely at about 5:30 p.m.
The man agreed to surrender after noise and gas charges were launched into the house.

Copyright The Associated Press
- See more at: http://www.kirotv.com/ap/ap/washington/police-standoff-with-armed-man-ends-in-north-bend-/nkYqL/#sthash.wa5MYh0z.dpuf

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Wow, nuts.

Good to hear that no one was severely injured.

Something similar happened in my parents neighborhood a few years back when a SWAT team came in to arrest this guy that my brother & I once knew. Turns out he had lost his marbles and had sent some threatening letters to a US Senator.

 

[Richard Burley]

...Turns out he had lost his marbles and had sent some threatening letters to a US Senator.  

Or gained them. No doubt a more serious offense than threatening a mere mortal.

 

[alandadp]

 the man surrendered, accidentally shooting himself in the chest as he did so.

That's some trick, shooting yourself with your hands in the air :lol!:

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Or gained them. No doubt a more serious offense than threatening a mere mortal.

Ironically, the Senator that he was threatening was California Senator Leland Yee, who is notorious for being a strict gun control advocate. The threatening correspondence was related to this.

Some time later this went down

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Linking-Calif-Sen-Yee-s-voting-record-to-major-5360391.php

 

[scotties22]

 the man surrendered, accidentally shooting himself in the chest as he did so.

That's some trick, shooting yourself with your hands in the air :lol!:

I was thinking the same thing! Apparently he didn't pay attention in firearm safety class :fpalm:

 

[RDPipes]

Sort of reminds me of two friends years ago got into a fight.
One got stabbed and went to the hospital and when asked what happened
he told the doctor he fell on his screwdriver while working on his bike.
The doctor asked seeing two stab wounds, you feel on it twice?
And he replied, yes, I'm very clumsy.

So, if you can fall on your screwdriver twice, I reckon you can shoot yourself in the chest while surrendering.

 

[Brewdude]

Just as a postscript, on reflection my next door neighbor was very probably exaggerating about the number of police as well as snipers in trees.

There may have been as many as a couple dozen cops on site including the SWAT team by my reckoning. And the concept of snipers in trees is a little far fetched where I live, due to the trees here being tall firs. The branches of these don't even start until some 10'-15' off the ground or more. So how is a sniper supposed to climb these, with the cleats and harness that a tree feller would use? Just doesn't add up.

Methinks my neighbor was a bit tiddly when he told me this. At the time I was trying to take this all in so accepted it. Now, not so much........


Cheers,

RR