PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — New information on an armed standoff in the Village of Fredonia sheds light on the past history at the property on Fox Glen Road, what tactics law enforcement used to draw out the suspect, and why the standoff took as long as it did.
According to Ozaukee County Sheriff Christy Knowles, the first call for service came around 8:30pm Thursday, when neighbors reported a 37-year-old man had been firing shots off and playing loud music.
“The subject stated he was going to continue playing music, and if anyone came to his residence he would shoot them,” said Sheriff Knowles Monday, referring to a phone conversation between law enforcement and the suspect.
Shortly after the phone conversation, deputies on scene heard multiple gunshots coming from the home.The ”extrememly heavy fire” continued for an additional 45 minutes. Nearby residents were asked to shelter in place in the basements of their homes due to the weapons’ abilities to penetrate walls. These weapons were identified in a press release Saturday as “fully automatic rifles”, though Knowles Monday did not confirm that the guns were fully automatic, nor if they were obtained legally.
The suspect is believed to have been the sole occupant of the home during the standoff. He is said to have expressed “disdain for the government and for law enforcement”, and threatened multiple times to kill any officer that entered the home. The man has had prior incidents with law enforcement, though none that necessitated arrest, according to Knowles.
The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office is requesting numerous counts of reckless endangering safety and failure to comply with a law enforcement order. WTMJ is not naming the suspect because charges have not yey been formally filed.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Hours-long armed standoff concludes in Village of Fredonia
Knowles says the number of 9-1-1 calls received during the incident overwhelmed their communications center. Eventually, SWAT teams from Milwaukee and Washington Counties were called in to briefly relieve Ozaukee County law enforcement. Several methods of “tactical manipulation” were utilized throughout the standoff, including bean bag rounds, gas, flashbangs, drones, tactical robots, and a long-range acoustic device, or LRAD. Ultimately, an unmanned fire hose was used to spray water through an opening in the second floor, leading to the suspect peacefully surrendering around 10:50am Saturday.
“”We were scraping the bottom…and my team behind me came up with ‘let’s use water.'” said Knowles, noting the method was first seen in training exercises.
“A lot of this was meant to plan his psyche and break him. And he eventually was broken,” said Knowles.
As for the nearly 38-hour duration of the standoff, Knowles stood by the process of the operation, saying the plan saved officers’ lives.
“The suspect had every intention of killing a law enforcement officer if they entered his residence. That would have been the unintended consequence if we decided to rush in. I will do everything in my power to make sure I don’t have to tell a parent, an officer’s parent, an officer’s wife or husband or their children, that they died because we chose to rush in to take care of the threat inside when we had that threat controlled from the outside,” said Knowles.
The house itself is structurally unsafe, and nearby residents are asked to stay clear while the investigation continues.
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