Standoff in Libby ends peacefully

A 19-hour standoff with law-enforcement officers near Libby ended Tuesday afternoon with the arrest of a 53-year-old woman.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office first responded to the home after a man called at 8:30 p.m. Monday to report that his wife, Gloria Sprinkle, had fired a gun and threatened to kill him. He was able to run from the house and notify authorities.

When deputies arrived, Sprinkle fired another round from a high-powered rifle and continued acting aggressively toward officers throughout the night.

“There were some mental-health issues with [Sprinkle],” Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said, “which was a problem.”

He also said it was not the first time deputies had been called to the home.

According to Bowe, deputies attempted to negotiate with Sprinkle, but to no avail. In the early hours of Tuesday, Bowe requested assistance from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office in the form of negotiators and a SWAT team.

“We didn’t have the peace-keeper vehicle, Flathead SWAT’s special vehicle they can use to get up close to the house and see what’s going on in the house,” Bowe said.

After several failed attempts to communicate with Sprinkle by negotiators with Flathead County, chemical agents were dispersed into the house, after which Sprinkle surrendered peacefully and was taken into custody.

Bowe said the length of the standoff and the slow build to its end were due to the way law-enforcement agencies respond to such incidents.

“You’re always hoping for a peaceful resolution and trying to do the least amount of damage to the house as possible,” Bowe said. “You start small and work bigger until the situation can get resolved to minimize any damage to the residence and hurt to suspects, victims, officers or the public.”

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said any time there is any kind of barricade or hostage situation in the area, the SWAT team and negotiators will be activated. In particular, he noted they assisted Lincoln County in another situation a few months ago.

“We certainly always try to, in the spirit of interagency cooperation, avail our resources to neighboring counties,” Curry said. “It’s hard to have a smaller agency and not as many resources, and we appreciate that and try to help.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.