LOCKPORT: Armed standoff ends peacefully

By April Amadon/amadona@gnnewspaper.com
Greater Niagara Newspapers

January 15, 2008 01:12 am

— A tense situation ended with a peaceful resolution Monday as an apparently suicidal man held police in a standoff near a city elementary school.
Michael A. Huntington, 42, 167 Olcott St., is now in police custody and facing several charges after a two-hour standoff on Olcott Street.
The incident began about 9:50 a.m., when city police responded to a home on Market Street for a report of a stolen car. A woman there said Huntington had told her he was contemplating suicide and had stolen her car.
Huntington then drove to a friend’s home on Quaker Road in Gasport. He did not go inside, but reportedly called his friend from his cell phone and told her he was thinking about killing himself.
The woman at the Quaker Road home told sheriff’s deputies she was talking on the phone with Huntington when she heard a gunshot. Sheriff’s investigators are trying to determine from which direction that shot was fired and if anything was struck.
Huntington drove away toward the City of Lockport. Meanwhile, a bulletin was issued to local law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the stolen car.
About 10:15 a.m., Lockport Police Officer Brian LeBere saw Huntington driving west on Olcott Street and attempted a traffic stop.
Huntington’s car sped up and struck a tree in front of 167 Olcott St. Although that is Huntington’s listed address, Lockport Police Chief Eggert said he had recently been evicted from the building.
Huntington reportedly got out of the car and displayed the shotgun. Despite LeBere’s requests to drop the gun, Huntington allegedly placed himself between two parked cars and held the gun to his head.
Across the street, neighbor JoAnne Ciraza looked outside and saw Huntington leaning up against a car, the shotgun pressed to his head.
“It seemed like a TV show,” she said. “I thought he was going to commit suicide.”
More officers arrived, soon joined by New York State troopers and sheriff’s deputies, who isolated Huntington and set up a perimeter, cordoning off nearby streets.
Nearby neighbors were evacuated from the area. Ciraza said she was contacted by phone by a law enforcement officer, who told her to leave the house from the back door and go toward Dolan Park.
The incident occurred two blocks from DeWitt Clinton Elementary School close to dismissal time. The school was placed in lockdown mode.
State Police Investigator James Thompson, a hostage negotiator, responded to the scene to talk with Huntington.
Sheriff’s Capt. Steven Preisch said the situation was potentially a “worst-case scenario” for the negotiator.
“It was a face-to-face confrontation, not from a house to a telephone,” he said. “Obviously, with an armed suspect, being outside, it just really complicated it.”
During the standoff, Huntington tried to go inside the house once but was ordered by officers to back away, Eggert said. Several times, Huntington used his cell phone to call people from the scene, allegedly threatening them, according to Eggert.
Deputies brought the Quaker Road woman to the scene during the incident, Preisch said.
“She did get on the PA and talk with (Huntington),” he said.
About 12:15 p.m., after nearly two hours of negotiation, Huntington unloaded the shotgun and dropped it. Officers moved in and took him into custody.
Eggert said the situation represented “a really outstanding bit of inter-agency cooperation.”
“We were able to meld three departments together to solve this,” he said. “It takes a lot of skill, a lot of bravery to stand within 30 yards of a man with a loaded shotgun and talk to him. Our hats are off to the hostage negotiators, they did a good job on this.”

Charges pending
Eggert said Huntington is facing numerous counts of menacing, first-degree reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a vehicle, criminal mischief and aggravated harassment.
He may also face reckless endangerment charges in connection with the gunshot fired on Quaker Road, Preisch said.
Huntington was booked at the LPD and was taken to the Niagara County Jail, and Eggert said he was expected to undergo a mental evaluation.
Eggert said the man had calmed down considerably since the arrest.
“He was still pretty agitated (when he came in),” Eggert said. “I actually went down and talked to him briefly, and he’s in a more lucid state than he was at the scene.”
It’s unclear what Huntington was upset about, but Eggert said initial reports were that he was recently evicted and had lost his job.
“I’m sure there are some other factors that are involved here that we haven’t really addressed yet, that we’re going to look at in the next couple days,” he said.
Huntington has had dealings with Lockport police before, including an arrest in August on charges of second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct. He was reportedly involved in an altercation with Brian P. Andrews, 44, of Market Street, who was charged with second-degree menacing for allegedly pointing a gun at Huntington during the argument.

Lockdown
Monday morning’s incident took place two blocks from DeWitt Clinton Elementary School, where pre-school children were scheduled to be dismissed at 11:15 a.m.
After the standoff began, Police contacted the Lockport City School District, and administrators placed DeWitt Clinton in lockdown mode. All other city schools were placed in lockout mode.
Superintendent Terry Ann Carbone said during a lockdown, no one is allowed in or out of the building and students are told to stay below window-level, while in a lockout, no one is allowed out of the building except at the discretion of each building’s administration.
DeWitt Clinton parents who showed up to pick up their children waited outside the school, while the students were kept inside the school well after the time of dismissal.
Several parents congregated on street corners around the school, many expressing concern about how the school district handled the situation.
Karen Roy said she wasn’t aware of the lockdown until she arrived at the school and were told to go home.
“They told us it wasn’t safe, but said the kids were safe inside,” Roy said.
“I called the school and they told us to go home,” parent Sally Santor said. “They haven’t told us anything.”
When parent Annie Hall arrived at the school, she was surprised to see the police cars and cordoned-off streets.
“We didn’t know what to think because we weren’t told,” she said. “I understand children are first priority, but they should have somehow told police officers to come and tell us. ... I think it’s poor communication.”
John Renna arrived at the school with his daughter, who is in kindergarten, and was told by a Union-Sun & Journal reporter that the school was in lockdown.
“Looks like you’re not going to school today,” Renna said to his daughter.
He said he hopes the school district can learn from this experience.
“I’m sure they never had a situation like this before to think about how to react, but now they can have a better course of action,” Renna said.
Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.
Union-Sun & Journal Managing Editor Tim Marren contributed to this story.

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