By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – A Special Weapons and Tactics team disarmed a woman barricaded with a gun in her garage June 10 and resolved the situation safely, Deputy Police Chief Archie Hamilton said.
The situation developed at a residence in the 1000 block of Electric Avenue near Goodard when a 38-year-old Wyandotte woman barricaded herself in the garage with a .45-caliber handgun, and fired one shot into the garage wall. Her boyfriend heard the shot, and fearing she had shot at herself, called for a police response.
When police officers arrived about 7:18 p.m. and breached the door, she held them off with her handgun. The officers tried for more than an hour to de-escalate the situation, as the woman continued to wave her weapon.
SWAT team negotiators next established communication with the woman, but were unable to get her to put down her weapon. They then employed a distraction strategy to safely disarm her and end the standoff by 10 p.m.
City Councilwoman Megan Maiani, who said she lives nearby, went on social media to urge people to refrain from jumping to conclusions and speculating about the incident.
“The woman is a nurse, just like me and many others,” Maiani said. “A person with a career who is dealing with life stressors that she does not know how to cope with anymore.”
Maiani said people should advocate to end the stigma surrounding mental illness, so more people may become aware of the widespread need for mental health diagnosis and treatment.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected])