Police Hold Fire, Seeking Surrender
By David Snyder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday , July 30, 2000 ; C1
A 91-year-old man, with a shotgun in his hand and a body in his yard, continued for a second night yesterday to barricade himself in his Upper
Marlboro house, withstanding a barrage of tear gas and other efforts to dislodge him as police snipers and dozens of other officers surrounded the
one-story brick structure.
SWAT teams and police cars gathered at the Leeland Road home as the man fired at anyone attempting to reach the body, believed to be that of a relative,
Prince George's County police said.
Police would not identify the shooter and said they could not get close enough to confirm the dead man's identity. They said the elderly man has opened
fire any time he has sensed police presence in or around his yard.
Prince George's Police Chief John S. Farrell said authorities are doing everything possible to avoid lethal force. "He has come out and fired at us; he has
taken dead aim at us, and we have not responded," Farrell said. "We're trying to come up with a peaceful resolution."
Police say the shooter suffers from dementia and he paced around his house from the time officers arrived about 8 p.m. Friday well into last night. He
also took time to clean his house and fired at officers at least four times when they drew near his home, a police spokesman said.
Officials cut off power to the neighborhood last night. And efforts to flush out the man with tear gas failed, as he appeared unaffected by the eye-burning
irritant, police said.
"We know there are people who can operate right through it," Farrell said. "But I've never seen anything like this, when you put in multiple rounds of gas
and the guy's still moving along."
Approached by police negotiators, the man challenged them, "Go ahead, come in and get me."
So throughout yesterday, officers simply waited.
"We will go as long as we have to to preserve this life, to resolve it peacefully without another end to life," said Farrell, who added that the standoff is the
longest in department history. "This is a real challenging situation for us, but we've got the right people and a lot of people out here.
"Our people have used great restraint and not fired back," he said.
The siege began late Friday afternoon, after one of the elderly man's family members flagged down an ambulance to report that an injured man was lying
in the yard, police spokesman Lt. Chuck Cooke said.
When rescue crews arrived, they found the elderly man mowing his lawn and a man with a gunshot wound lying dead outside the house.
The elderly man soon began firing on the rescue workers, who retreated. Their ambulance remained behind the house, as did the body, which police say
appeared to have been dragged from the house.
Police blocked off two miles of Leeland Road, an area of farmland intersected by bustling roadways. A police helicopter swirled overhead from time to
time, and police from Anne Arundel and Montogmery counties arrived throughout the day to relieve Prince George's officers. Officials said about 100
officers from the three counties were on the scene last night.
Hostage negotiators, snipers and special-weapons units were on the scene throughout the night yesterday and Friday, police said.
"The situation is very troubling for us. We can't seem to establish a dialogue," Farrell said. Police were unable to contact the gunman by phone because
he had ripped the phones out, police said.
As night fell yesterday, law enforcement officers dressed in camouflage, and a helicopter with a searchlight hovered overhead. Prince George's County
Executive Wayne K. Curry was at the scene to offer condolences to family members and "make sure everything ends peacefully," he said. "Apparently,
[the gunman] is pretty adept at handling weapons."
A Catholic priest from a nearby church told police that the man had become increasingly isolated in recent months, police said, and refused to let the
priest in his house when he went to visit last month.
His family members - many of whom live on the stretch of land cordoned off by police - could not be reached for comment. Police said
the dead man's wife had wanted to remain near the scene with his body, but she left as the siege dragged on. Crisis counselors were flown in by
helicopter to console relatives, authorities said.
Police would not elaborate on the dead man's injuries. They could not say how long he had been in the yard when rescue crews arrived, a Prince
George's police spokeswoman said.
Staff writers Lisa Frazier, Jamie Stockwell and Martin Weil contributed to this report.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4188-2000Jul29.html
Standoff Ends
Associated Press at 11:51 AM
A 31-hour standoff between a
91-year-old Upper Marlboro man and
police is over.
Police entered the home around 1:30
this morning using a water cannon robot.
One shot from the cannon disabled the
man and police took him into custody. He
injured his knee and was taken to an area
hospital.
Prince George's County police believe
the man shot and killed his nephew,
59-year-old James Newman of Seat
Pleasant, on Friday. Police spokeswoman
Diane Richardson said Newman had gone
over to his uncle's house to cut his lawn,
but investigators don't know why he was
killed.
Relatives say the man suffers from
dementia and may not have been taking
his medication.
The state's attorney's office is deciding
if charges will be filed, Richardson said.
