A welfare check in Pottawatomie County over the weekend led to a 17-hour standoff near Bethel Road and Old Mills Road. Deputies responded after family reported a missing person. The missing person’s son went inside the house and showed a firearm through a window. A tactical team used tear gas and less-lethal ammunition to enter the home, arresting the son and a woman. Captain Jared Strand said, "The individual kept going back and forth in the house with a firearm, so the tact team did port some windows, and there were some tactical decisions made on that so we could have clear view inside the house," as reported by KOCO. A deceased man was found inside the residence.
The interaction with the armed individual lasted for several hours due to safety concerns, particularly because the status of a woman inside the residence was unknown. Captain Strand of KFOR said, "Usually, they don’t last that long. Most of the time, people will give up, and so it took a while, but that was the important thing, because, I mean, there’s two people in there. We weren’t sure if the female was being held or not, and so, you take your time to make sure people are safe." Both individuals were eventually detained without further incident.
During a search of the home, officers found the body of an unidentified man. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the medical examiner’s office are working to determine his identit, as per OKC FOX. The man and woman taken from the home face first-degree murder charges. It is not yet clear if the victim was the person reported missing. The Sheriff's Office and other authorities have not released further details due to the ongoing investigation.
