WJJQ LOCAL NEWS
Man takes hostage with pellet gun
Thursday, February 11, 2010

On Wednesday, the Lincoln County E911 Center took a second hand request for an ambulance at a residence on State Road 17 in the Town of Merrill. The request was received at 3:25 pm and reported a routine medical problem. When the Lincoln County Ambulance arrived at 3:33 pm, they found a man armed with what appeared to be a handgun at the residence. The ambulance left the area and the EMS staff was never in direct contact with the suspect.

Deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene along with a Warden from the DNR. The first deputy on the scene saw the suspect holding what appeared to be a gun to the head of a person inside the residence. Anticipating a hostage situation, the Lincoln County SRT Team was called, and assistance was requested from the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department SRT Team along with their rescue vehicle. The joint Marathon / Oneida County Bomb Squad was also requested to the scene as the male was making threats that he had a bomb.

As deputies were forming a perimeter around the home, they were able to make voice contact with the suspect, but he refused their orders. At one point, the suspect emerged from the residence with a person in front of him acting as if he had a weapon, the person was able to break away from the suspect and he was eventually taken into custody without injury. The weapon, which was later recovered, turned out to be a pellet gun that was made as a replica to a semi automatic handgun.

The man was taken by EMS to a hospital for a medical evaluation and was later brought to the North Central Health Care Center.

Criminal charges will be reviewed with the district attorney.

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