Distraught Man Forces Evacuation Police Clear Out Neighborhood After Man Threatens To Kill Himself With Shotgun

Sheriff’s deputies evacuated a Huetter neighborhood Thursday after a man holding a shotgun to his chin threatened to kill himself.

Officers spent the evening negotiating with the man, whose name was not released, as he repeatedly refused to come out of the boarding house where he lives. The standoff remained unresolved as of 10:30 p.m.

“Please come to the window. We need to make sure you’re OK,” negotiators called to the man as 15 Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies and Idaho State Police officers surrounded the home on Reeves Street.

The man, who is in his 30s, called a counselor at about 3 p.m. Thursday threatening to kill himself, said Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. The counselor then notified police.

Wolfinger said the man apparently was upset about pending court cases but did not say what the cases were about.

As the man held a 12-gauge shotgun to his chin inside his room, sheriff’s deputies evacuated other residents from the boarding house, as well as people living in surrounding homes.

“He hasn’t threatened to shoot anybody else, but it’s always a potential,” Wolfinger said. Deputies said they believed the man was under the influence of drugs, possibly methamphetamine.

Neighbors, who waited into the evening to be allowed back in their homes, estimated that about 30 people had been evacuated.

Sherrie Bailey was watching her three sons play in their front yard across the street from the boarding house when officers came by and told her to evacuate.

“Someone waves a gun around - I’ll leave,” she said Thursday evening.

Kelly Rodway Jr. was at his home across the street when emergency officials called him and told him to leave the house immediately.

“They said we had to get out of the house and I didn’t know why,” the 17-year-old said.

Rodway quickly woke up his sleeping dad, who threw on a pair of pants and a shirt, then jumped in the car and drove a safe distance.

“I’ve got to go to work,” Kelly Rodway Sr. said, as he stood outside The Shanty Bar waiting to be let into his home.

The bar on Seltice Way turned into an impromptu shelter as adults and children alike were allowed to escape the heat and wait for the standoff to end.

“I just want to go home and take a shower,” said Dan Anderson, as he sat atop the hood of his car waiting.

Anderson, like many of the neighbors, had nowhere else to go. Officials called the Red Cross to find temporary housing for 15 people.

Gene Baum, 29, said he lives in the apartment next door to the man threatening to kill himself. Baum said the man had moved in a couple of months ago.

Baum also said he saw the man carrying a long box labeled “firearm” into his room on Wednesday.

The man spoke with negotiators on and off throughout Thursday evening.

“He just said ‘I’m fine, Just leave me alone,”’ Wolfinger said. “Obviously someone sitting there with a shotgun under their chin isn’t fine.”

, DataTimes