Standoff ends peacefully after armed man surrenders
The Daily Inter Lake
An apparently suicidal man in a nearby home prompted a brief lockdown at Peterson Elementary in Kalispell on Wednesday, but the incident ended peacefully even though the man emerged from the residence with a loaded handgun.
Kalispell police Chief Roger Nasset said police received a report of a suicidal man in a home on the 400 block of South Meridian at about 12:40 p.m.
The man had prior mental-health issues and apparently was not taking his medication. Nasset contacted the man by phone and found him to be incoherent. Soon after police were dispatched to the house, they requested a lockdown at Peterson Elementary and evacuated six adjacent houses.
Nasset said he talked with the man by phone for nearly two hours, unable to talk him into coming out of the house.
Just as the city's SWAT team arrived, the man did emerge, carrying a loaded .22-caliber pistol.
Nasset said the man did not point the gun at anybody, and he eventually responded to police commands to put the weapon down. He was taken into custody and transferred to Kalispell Regional Medical Center for a mental health evaluation at about 3 p.m.
Nasset said responding officers 'showed extreme restraint in not using lethal force because he was definitely a threat when he came out."
The school lockdown, which most students were unaware of, lasted for less than two hours.