SWAT standoff early Sunday morning ends with surrender

Neighbor details hours-long incident that involved others evacuating in the area.

One person was taken into custody on Sunday after a reported disturbance just before midnight led to a standoff that lasted hours into the morning and involved a heavy police presence in West Carrollton.

Police responded to a disturbance reported on the 600 block of Kings Cross in West Carrollton at around midnight before SWAT was dispatched at 12:48 a.m. on Sunday, said Chris Fairchild, public information officer for the West Carrollton Police Department.

“We do have one in custody,” Fairchild said. The subject was taken into custody at approximately 8 a.m., he said.

The subject had been disorderly inititally, according to early reports, which may have led to threats being made.

“We’re still trying to investigate,” Fairchild said.

A neighbor said the subject of the disturbance has exhibited mental health problems for years, but he has become increasing erratic and aggressive while also refusing help.

“It’s recently gotten worse,” said Karen Korn, a neighbor in the area.

The subject has yelled at others in the neighborhood, telling one man he was going to kill him, and has also yelled at Korn’s family members, she said.

“The things he was yelling last night were a lot, very violent,” Korn said. “I think the police, when they approached him, he was aggressive in what he was saying.”

The hours-long standoff involved multiple police officers. Police threw teargas canisters into the subject’s residence and attempted to speak to the subject over a loud speaker, she said.

Neighbors in the area were eventually asked to evacuate their homes at approximately 6:30 a.m., she said. The subject later surrendered an hour and half later.

Overall, Korn said the incident was tragic because the subject needs help.

“It’s so sad to me,” Korn said.

For three years, the police and neighbors have been working on trying to figure out what to do, she said.

“The law makes it so that nobody can do anything for him to help him,” Korn said. “...This is a tragedy because we need a different system. We just need something different so that this isn’t what it comes to.”

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