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2-hour South Side standoff ends with arrest of suspect
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Ambulance personnel load Adam Carson, 29, into an ambulance after a two-hour standoff on Homestead Avenue. Carson is charged with two counts of bank robbery in Ashtabula County.
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Police and federal agents arrested a man at his Homestead Avenue home after a two-hour standoff, charging him with two counts of bank robbery from Ashtabula County.
Adam Carson, 29, was alone in the home, which police and neighbors described as a residential treatment facility.
Detective Sgt. John Elberty of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team said the investigation was a joint effort among the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s office, Orwell Police and the Painesville FBI Office. Youngstown Police, the crisis response team and FBI Violent Crimes Task Force assisted in the arrest.
The arrest took place about 3 p.m. Tuesday, and nearby Wilson Middle School and Taft Elementary were locked down for safety during the standoff.
After authorities determined that Carson, who was a suspect in two bank robberies in Ashtabula County, was living in Youngstown, they contacted the FBI task force, Elberty said.
The charges were filed through the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s office, but officials there couldn’t be reached Tuesday afternoon to provide details about the crimes of which Carson is accused.
Officers and agents saw Carson’s vehicle at the home and tried to contact him inside, but he wouldn’t answer the door, Elberty said. Eventually, Carson made contact by phone, at which time the crisis team was called out.
Carson was alone in the home, and there was no indication that he had weapons inside. He was allowed to smoke a cigarette and drink a soda to try to calm down before emerging from the home.
Carson was transported to the hospital for evaluation.
Rodney McDowell was at his father’s Miller Street home, not far from the Homestead intersection, when the incident started.
He saw officers and agents pull up to the house in their vehicles and go to the door.
“You could see him [Carson] in the bottom right window there, but he wasn’t coming out at first,” McDowell said.
He said he’s never encountered problems with anyone who lives in the Homestead house and described the neighborhood as quiet.