Man barricades himself in house

Greg Risling

DOVER SHORES -- A 52-year-old man involved in a heated family dispute

barricaded himself in his home Wednesday night and threatened to commit

suicide before surrendering to police.

The armed man kept a special weapons unit at bay for three hours as

negotiators attempted to talk to him. He eventually was taken to a

hospital where he underwent a psychiatric evaluation. He was not

arrested.

When the gunman launched into a tirade, police responded to the home

in the 1800 block of Galaxy Drive around 9:30 p.m. He reportedly had been

drinking and arguing with two family members and threatened to kill

himself. He grabbed a loaded revolver, ran outside into a backyard and

fired one shot into the air.

Family members fled the residence once they heard the gunshot.

Police arrived after receiving a 911 call and evacuated neighboring

homes. A hostage negotiations team member called the home and tried to

contact the armed man, but he didn’t respond.

“Our negotiator was talking to him through the answering machine that

he was probably listening to,” said Sgt. Mike McDermott. “We weren’t

making direct contact with him, but we used all of the tape on the

message machine.”

About 12:20 a.m., the man walked outside and turned himself in to

authorities. Police seized the revolver and four other handguns that were

recovered from the residence.