SWAT standoff at Washington Twp. home ends; Man hospitalized

WASHINGTON TWP. — A SWAT standoff involving a man barricaded inside a Washington Twp. home has ended with the suspect taken to an area hospital, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck.

>>PHOTOS: SWAT units on scene of large investigation at Washington Twp. home

The suspect was taken into custody peacefully nearly three hours after deputies were first called to the house in the 10,000 block of Cobble Brook Drive. The suspect, only identified as a man, was taken to an area hospital “where we’ll try to get him the help that he needs,” Streck said.

The incident was first called as a person suffering from an overdose at the house around 2:20 p.m. When deputies arrived on scene, the person who was believed to be overdosing was able to get up, and family members told deputies he might have been heading to where he had guns stored.

“The family advised us he had gotten to the safe and had gotten to his firearms. As the deputies put their (life-saving) equipment down they started hearing firearms slides racking. At that point, based on experience they knew they had someone who was possible charging firearms,” Streck said.

>>Storm Tracking Alert: Strong storms with damaging winds, hail possible Wednesday night

Officers left the house and surrounded it, prompting a call for county-wide officer assistance with several departments from around Montgomery County all responding to the scene. The incident turned into a barricaded person situation, which led to the standoff and calls for SWAT units, Streck said.

Hostage negotiators talked with the man until he was taken into custody. Deputies have had instances with the man in the past and he was known to law enforcement. Deputies have had past calls to the house on overdose and welfare checks.

“There is an element of mental health issues. Once again, we are here to try and get him the help that he needs to determine if there are issues out there that the professionals need to help with,” Streck said.

Several neighboring homes were either evacuated or people were asked to shelter-in-place during the investigation. There were also family members of the man inside the home when the standoff began. However, no injuries were reported.

Some Centerville City Schools students were not able to be dropped off in the neighborhood because of the investigation, a district spokesperson said in an emailed statement to News Center 7.

“We had a few students who could not be dropped off in that neighborhood. They were either kept at school or returned on their bus so their parents could pick them up. Affected families were contacted by their child’s school,” the spokesperson said.

We’ll continue to update this story as we learn more.

1 of 11