A 911 call that came out as a male with a firearm holding his wife and two children hostage, turned out to be not as serious of an incident as was originally reported at a residence in Deerwood.
The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office 911 dispatchers received a call at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday that was transferred by the Minnesota State Patrol of a female stating her husband was threatening her and their children with a firearm at the residence on the 23000 block of County Road 12 in Deerwood.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Chief Deputy Dennis Lasher said the 911 dispatcher continued to talk with the female, who also stated her sister showed up to the residence and her husband had a gun and told them "they better leave or he'll use it." Lasher said the dispatcher asked her if she was being held against her will and she said yes. She also said he was in possession of a long gun.
The sheriff's office responded with all of its special teams-the Tactical Team, the bomb squad, the crisis negotiation team and activated its command post, as it had a serious hostage situation at hand. A perimeter was set up around the residence with the teams of around 25 officers; as well as Deerwood and Crosby police, the state patrol and Crosby ambulance assisting at the scene.
Lasher said once everything was set up the negotiation team made contact with the male subject, who was cooperative with authorities and stated "I was waiting for you guys to come."
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Lasher said the male was interviewed, as well as his wife and her sister; and all of them gave significant conflicting stories.
The hostage situation turned out to be an unfounded domestic/civil situation, Lasher said. There was no immediate danger. The children were safe and the adults were separated for the night. Lasher said the incident lasted around two hours and some law enforcement stayed on scene until midnight.
"When you have cases like this you can't respond with any less manpower," Lasher said about considering whether there was a serious hostage situation involving a firearm. "We can't wait to see what the call is all about before calling in more resources. This much manpower is needed to keep our officers, special teams, the reporting parties and their families and the community safe.
"Resources and cost of responding to this type of incident is extremely costly. ... But we have no choice, we have to respond and be prepared for anything as you never know what each call will bring."
Lasher said the incident is still under investigation.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5851. Follow me at www.twitter.com/jennewsgirl on Twitter.
