WINONA, Minn. – A 12-hour siege at a house on the East End began with a 911 call reporting domestic assault. Police Chief Tom Williams offered this account:
> A domestic assault was reported in the 650 block of East Wabasha Street at 8:18 p.m., Saturday. When officers tried to arrest a man in the house, he barricaded himself inside and began setting small fires. The man threatened to shoot officers in the face. He said the only way he would leave was in a body bag.
> Police communicated with the man by phone until he disconnected. Further communication was by text.
> Firefighters put out the man’s fires as best as he set them.
> Additional police units arrived: Winona County sheriff’s officers, Goodview police, a Winona crisis response team, the Winona County emergency response team, and the Olmsted County emergency response team from Rochester.
> Williams, who was widely criticized for using armed military vehicles in a standoff across town at Maplewood Townhomes last July, was detailed in explaining his decision to do so again. “Given the fact he was threatening to shoot us and the fact that he was actually starting fires throughout the house, we were afraid the officers couldn’t get close enough to take a throw phone and throw it into the house. So we got the MRAP up as closely as we could, tried negotiating with him numerous times.”
> Crisis responders continued to communicate with the man by text through an acquaintance. Threats continued. So did more small fires.
> The man went silent for 70 minutes. To get his attention, police lobbed loud distraction devices into the house. The man would “come to” and resume talking with negotiators, then go silent again.
> As dawn approached, it became obvious to Williams that the man was committed to staying in the house. “It was starting to get light out, which became a disadvantage to us,” said Williams. Police escalated the standoff with flashbang distractions and pepper balls to draw the man out. None worked.
> Police lobbed handheld canisters of CN tear gas into the house. The man withstood the barrage.
> Members of the Winona County and Olmsted County emergency response teams broke in the front door and went inside with a K-9. The man barricaded himself upstairs. With a ladder, team members climbed through an second-floor window.
> The man retreated into a crawlspace. Police broke through a sheetrock wall and took custody. This was about 8:25 a.m.,Sunday.
613 West Wabasha. After 12 hours of failed negotiations and teargas and flashbangs mounted the roof of the house’s enclosed front porch and smashed their way in. This is the debris. Image: Steve Lunde
Inside fires
All firefighters, on duty and off, were summoned after police spotted fire and smoke inside the house. Firefighters unreeled a hose. Using a police car as cover, they aimed a 2-1/2 inch master stream at burning curtains. Meanwhile, an Excl utility crew blocked gas and power to the house. More small fires flared up over the next few hours.