The Observation Deck

Hostage on Lakewood and Franklin Avenues
At 1:18 PM on a hot Sunday afternoon a woman called 911 about a man with a gun in a Jaguar. She then reported the man described as a black male going into a house at 1522 Lakewood. Gunshots were heard. Lakewood patrol cars immediately responded and cordoned off traffic in the area.
A neighbor across the street is acting as an observer and phoning in reports to the police dispatcher. The SWAT armored vehicle has been called in. There is apparently a child in a car that is being held captive.


More to Follow

Stan,

As 2:25PM right now all of Alameda is blocked off. We live on Alameda & were returning from the store. The fire department and police would not let us park in our drive. They escorted us to our house.

They said there was a shooting but they didn't know exactly where. Is the shooting actually one street over on Lakewood? I was under the impression it was Alameda.


Natalie Schrimpf

Natalie-- I think they're getting ready for entry into the house at 1522 Lakewood. It's 3:13PM now.
Stan

How about an update on the SWAT situation? We had a power outage, and have no idea how extensive it was.

Has the situation been rectified?

The situation has been over for a few hours. Allegedly, it appears that the suspect killed his girlfriend. I heard that the suspect was shot, but it was not clear whether or not he shot himself, or what exactly happened, and that he was taken to Lakewood Hospital.

I heard several different news reports and they all varied in some of the important details.

Our lights went out as well, so it wasn't until I heard early local news on the radio that I got the first summary. What was reported at that time differed from the evening news on tv.

We happen to live right next door to where the incident happened, so I thought I'd let you all know what we know.

Luckily, we were gone when everything happened. We got a call from a neighbor who told us about what had happened and to stay away until everything settled down. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that the neighbor called to tell us we could come home.

When we got back, the street was still taped off. The police detectives told us that a woman was shot by her (ex?)-boyfriend; who then shot himself. The woman was dead, but his condition was unknown.

It turns out that the woman who was shot was visiting our neighbors (she was a niece of our neighbor). Her (ex?)-boyfriend tracked her down and came by and tried to get her to leave with him.

Thankfully, the family that lives next to us (six kids and their mother) were able to escape without being injured. They were able to run out of the house when the shots were fired. They spent the rest of the day at the police station. No one else in the neighborhood was injured.

For what its worth, neither of the people involved lived in Lakewood.

Chris Trapp wrote:We happen to live right next door to where the incident happened, so I thought I'd let you all know what we know.

Chris

Stan and I were trying to get in touch with you all afternoon for the interview.



And 14 more images from the stand off, that attaches to Stan's article on the front page.


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Great job guys!!

Rhonda

I just want to commend the Lakewood Safety forces and Community SWAT memebers for an outstanding job done under stressful and sweltering conditions during the horrendous events of 7/30/06 on Lakewood Avenue..

We pay a lot in taxes to live in Lakewood but the quality of our city services and in particular the professionalism of our police, fire, and paramedics are second to none.

It was an excellent job done by well trained individuals. As much as I hate these things to take place in Lakewood, it is comforting to know that we have men and women of such high caliber in the Lakewood Safety forces to help us in our hours of need.

Well said, Scott.

In addition, let's not forget the Department of Human Services. Their personal attention to this matter was an important service to the family of the victim and to the community. Crisis management is a team effort. Great job!

Suzanne-- A team effort for sure.

The dispatchers efficiently handled emotional and potentially volotile participants.

Our cops did the routine, formed a perimeter and secured the area.

Lakewood SWAT handled the dangerous stuff.

The EMS was there for anybody, victim or not.

The Mayor was in his office minutes after first notification that there was an incident.

His coordination of those departments helped to alleviate the distress of the whole incident.

Tom went home at 9:00 Sunday night.

I don't know of any city manager contract that stipulates that you 1) instinctively know your duty to the city, and 2) that you come in at any time to fulfill that duty.

When it hits the fan, who does the Chief call --- a manager or the Mayor?

Stan Austin

Nice stretch, Stan. Perfect exploitation of a very bad situation.

Steve

With apologies to the Mayor, I just couldn't give Stan a pass

I don't know of any city manager contract that stipulates that you 1) instinctively know your duty to the city, and 2) that you come in at any time to fulfill that duty.

I'm still very much undecided on this whole manager/mayor thing...but Stan, if a city manager's contract DIDN'T require the active participation of a manager in the off hours when a hostage crisis arose, who ever drafted that contract should either be fired, sued for malpractice or both.....
and if a manager demonstrated a disconnect in that situation, he wouldn't last until the next election.....

Having said that, I'll echo all the kudos that were handed out for all of our officials, INCLUDING the elected ones for the manner in which that situation was handled.

Jeff "Still not sure I want council appointing a manager" Endress