Courtesy Photo
Rachel Decker
The Paw Print
The town of Tonawanda was on full alert last Saturday morning when SWAT team members were called in to take care of a hostage situation after a call came in to the police station reporting that an armed gunman had taken his mother and girlfriend hostage.
The SWAT team arrived at the scene accompanied by a team of negotiators. As the hours went on the gunman seemed to ignore requests from the negotiators to step outside, it was later revealed that the gunman was sleeping soundly.
“The guy just had too much to drink,” reported Captain Jonathon W. Scott. “We thought there was a hostage situation in there, and it turns out there wasn’t.”
Earlier that morning, the gunman’s mother had called police saying her intoxicated son was causing a disturbance. When the police arrived, the woman then said that her son was armed.
“When an intoxicated man is armed, it can get very deadly very fast,” said Scott. “We did what we would in any situation like this.”
Nearly a dozen SWAT members arrived and were then stationed around the home, where they waited for about three hours, while negotiators tried to coax the gunman out of the house.
Things became seemingly more dangerous when the mother stopped contacting the officers about her wellbeing. She had been calling them every so often to update them on her safety, but when her expected call didn’t come through, things were brought up a notch.
“We feared for the worst,” said one officer, who wished to be unidentified. “We couldn’t get in touch with [the mother] and we had to step up our defensive actions.”
An 84-year-old neighbor of the gunman was taken into her basement for protection while the SWAT set up sharpshooters in her living room and kitchen, trying to get sights on the gunman.
“I’ve been here for 43 years, and nothing like this has ever happened,” said the woman, who was fearful and requested that her identity be kept confidential, even after the situation was resolved. “They set up their machines with their big guns and scopes. I didn’t have time to think, because they told me to go into the basement.”
Police then blocked traffic on the surrounding streets near the gunman’s house for good measure. “It was definitely a serious situation,” said one Tonawanda police officer at the scene.
So when the gunman suddenly walked out of the house with his hands behind his head and surrendered without a fight, the SWAT team and officers weren’t sure what t make of it. When he was questioned later, he told them that he was taking a nap.
“I’d had a hard night, came home, and got a little too drunk,” said the suspected gunman, who wished to keep his identity confidential. “I just kind of fell asleep. I never thought something like this would happen.”
It has still not been explained as to why the mother stopped contacting police during the incident, and there is no word on how the girlfriend was involved, or even if she was present during the mistaken hostage situation.
As for the weapons that the gunman was supposedly armed with, upon further investigation, it was found that the weapons were simply in the same room as he was. The man, who served in the Marine Corps, had a few swords and a rifle, none of which he had touched during the incident.
The man was later charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, and he was taken to Erie County Medical Center for a mental examination.
“I don’t think he should have been arrested,” said one neighbor who witnessed the ordeal. “I would be looking at the mother, and asking why she wasn’t taken in for reporting a false incident. If she had been more rational about the whole situation, this could have been avoided.”
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