Terminally ill Lawrence man, family unharmed after 3-hour standoff
LAWRENCE — The street was closed and a SWAT team called in when a terminally ill South Lawrence man barricaded himself in his home yesterday morning, threatening to kill his family and himself.
The three-hour incident ended without injury to the 75-year-old Sylvester Street man and his family, neighbors or police officers. The Police Department's Emergency Response Team fired tear gas and a bean bag bullet into the man's home to get him to surrender just before noon.
The man, who suffers from dementia and liver cancer, was taken to Lawrence General Hospital for treatment and evaluation. He does not face criminal charges, but police will revoke his firearms license, police Chief John Romero said.
Police received a call from a family member at 8:30 a.m. after the man, who threatened to have a gun, locked himself in a bedroom.
"He went in his upstairs room and wouldn't let anyone in, and continued to make threats," Sgt. Robert Michaud wrote in an incident report.
Family members, police officers and specially trained negotiators unsuccessfully tried to get the man to leave home voluntarily. Sylvester Street was then blocked off at both ends so the response team could fire tear gas into the bedroom.
Another officer later fired a bean bag bullet at the man, which was just enough to distract him and give officers time "to rush (the man) with a ballistic shield and quickly subdue him," Michaud wrote.
Police later recovered a rifle from the man's bedroom.
Romero praised the response team's work, noting yesterday's incident was carried out in a "picture perfect" fashion.
