Marion man pleads innocent to charges after standoff
The Daily Inter Lake
A Marion man has pleaded innocent to charges filed in connection with a 24-hour armed standoff at a home on Lost Prairie Road that left two of his young children showing signs of hypothermia.
Thomas Glenn Lockwood, 44, pleaded not guilty to criminal endangerment and assault with a weapon, both felonies, during his arraignment Thursday in Flathead County District Court.
According to court records, sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a domestic disturbance with shots fired at Lockwood's home, located in the 9400 block of Lost Prairie Road, about 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 6.
Lockwood, who had been drinking, is accused of locking his wife and three children out of their home when she refused to get him more alcohol.
Lockwood's wife later told investigators that when she asked her husband to send out the children's shoes and coats, a single gunshot was fired inside the house.
Thinking Lockwood had committed suicide, his wife put two of the couple's three children in a nearby car and approached the house. But Lockwood allegedly came out and started shooting, forcing his wife and their third child to flee half a mile in socks to a neighbor's house, where they called authorities.
The Flathead County SWAT team responded and began negotiating with Lockwood for his surrender, according to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office.
At 10:45 p.m. on Jan. 6 - about four hours after the standoff began - Lockwood allegedly left the house, shouted something unintelligible, and then fired three shots before going back inside. Officers were not able to retrieve the two children, ages 8 and 12, from the car until 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 7. The children, who had spent more than six hours in the car without shoes or coats, were treated for possible hypothermia.
Negotiations continued until Lockwood, who was armed with a handgun, surrendered without incident about 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 7.
If convicted, Lockwood, who is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. His trial is scheduled to begin in June.