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Police take armed man into custody without incident

3 min read

A standoff involving a man police say was armed and suicidal ended without serious injury to the man or responding officers Friday after the SWAT team created a diversion and took the man into custody without incident.

The man was taken to the Cape Coral ER for medical clearance and was later transported to Park Royal for psychiatric evaluation under the provisions of the Baker Act, the Cape Coral Police Department said in a prepared statement released Monday.

The incident began Friday night after Cape Coral Police were called to a reported suicide attempt at a residence in the 2900 block of S.W. 40th Street.

Officers were told a male subject at the home “was very agitated and had a knife to his throat threatening to kill himself,” police said. Officers were also told that there was an 80 year-old woman inside the house.

Officers met with the man’s wife down the street from the location to get information and formulate a plan.

“While interviewing her, officers saw the subject come out of the house and go into his car and come out of the car with something in his hand,” the release states. “Officers attempted to make contact with him and get him to come over to where they were. The subject pointed a gun at the officers and yelled, ‘NO’ and ran back inside the house.”

Officers began to set up a perimeter on the house when they saw the man leave through the back, police said adding he was wearing a back pack and holding the gun to his head. Although officers continued to attempt to get him to stop, the man kept walking through an open field where there was no cover for officers. He then walked to a dock behind a residence in the 3000 block of S.W. 40th Lane.

Officers followed him and saw him point the gun to his head as he entered the water.

“The subject kept yelling to officers to kill him while he pointed the gun to his head,” police said.

Patrol officers and two K-9 units set up a perimeter around the dock area while a SWAT Bearcat was driven to the scene and used for cover as officers established contact with the man using its PA system.

“The subject would not cooperate and kept coming in and out of the water holding the gun to his head,” police said

The SWAT Team was activated, LCSO Aviation was called to help with containment, and a Command Post was set up nearby.

Police, meanwhile, made sure the 80-year-old woman was OK and issued a Ping4 alert for the safety of nearby residents, urging them to stay in their homes with doors and windows locked.

Eventually, the man then came out of the water up onto the dock.

“He sat on the dock, retrieved a knife and began rubbing the knife against his own neck,” police said. “SWAT Team members used a flash-bang to distract the subject while others used a combination of sponge rounds and Taser to incapacitate and disarm the subject.”

Officers were able to take him into custody without further incident or serious injury, officials said.