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Negotiator: Standoff outcome ‘successful’
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A police hostage negotiator who spent six hours at a house on Hunter Street Northwest early Saturday said convincing Paul Mazerik to come out alive was a “very successful conclusion.”
Mazerik, 46, is charged in Warren Municipal Court with misdemeanor inducing panic. He will be arraigned when he is released from ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where he is being held for observation.
Sgt. Jeff Cole arrived at 12:30 a.m. and assisted fellow police negotiator Doug Hipple in talking to Mazerik of 914 Hunter St. on the telephone. Cole called for the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team’s SWAT team at 3:10 a.m. after hours of short calls to Mazerik. The SWAT team arrived about 4:15 a.m., Cole said.
The response team is made up of officers from Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Howland, Hubbard City, Mahoning and Trumbull county sheriff’s departments, Struthers, New Middletown, Milton, Youngstown and Youngstown State University. An Austintown police-dog handler was on the scene Friday as a part of that team.
Mazerik’s sister called 911 at 11:39 p.m. Friday, saying Mazerik, a former bail bondsman and Marine Corps veteran, had several guns, had fired them off before and was threatening to kill himself.
Officers were advised he was alone in the house except for his two dogs.
Officers closed off the part of Hunter Street around Mazerik’s home and reported seeing him with a shotgun in the front door and later in a window.
Mazerik was on the phone with several people while he was holed up, and they advised police Mazerik was intoxicated and not taking his medication.
They said Mazerik was threatening to shoot himself if officers came to his door. Mazerik also wanted to speak to his girlfriend, and about 5:30 a.m., police located the girlfriend and brought her to Hunter Street. Mazerik gave himself up at 6:05 a.m.
Cole said he believes 10 to 15 police officers worked in the Hunter Street area through the night to protect the public and bring Mazerik out of the house.
Cole disagreed with the opinion offered by a Hunter Street resident in a story in Sunday’s Vindicator that Mazerik gave himself up as soon as the SWAT team prepared to head into the residence.
This is the second time in six months Mazerik has caused police to come to his house.
Mazerik was arrested for firing his handgun at the house July 22, 2011, and was convicted Nov. 1 in Warren Municipal Court of a misdemeanor charge of discharging firearms.
He was sentenced to two years’ probation, and Warren police were ordered to destroy the weapons he was using that night. But he did not lose his concealed- carry license, according to the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office.