Warren man gives up to police after four-hour standoff

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

A four-hour standoff involving a man barricaded in his Southern Boulevard Northwest home ended peacefully about 8:55 p.m. Monday with the man coming out of the house and giving himself up to police.

Dozens of officers from the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team and others took part in the effort, which began about 4:30 p.m. when family members reported hearing a gunshot from inside the house after they had left the home.

The man refused to come out of the house when police arrived.

The man, who was not identified by name but was described as being in his 40s, displayed a firearm to police “at least one time” during the standoff, said Lt. Jeff Cole of the Warren Police Department, who handled negotiations with the man.

Police used crime-scene tape to keep a large crowd of people away.

Police attempted to “stun” the man about 7:30 p.m. by firing nonlethal bean bags at him while he was standing on the porch. That did not stun him enough to capture him, Lt. Cole said.

The man did have some injuries to his arms and torso from the bean bags, but he otherwise was not injured, nor was anyone else, Cole said.

The man was led out of the house by police and onto a stretcher, but he was able to talk to family members before being taken to a hospital for a mental-health evaluation.

Cole said it’s not known what caused the man to barricade himself in the house, and he said he didn’t know whether rumors were true the man was distraught over his fiancee’s canceling their upcoming wedding.

Warren Councilman Eddie Colbert said he was planning to attend the man’s upcoming wedding.

Cole said he didn’t know late Monday whether the man would face any criminal charges related to the incident.