A man accused of pointing a rifle at another person near North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs hid inside an abandoned building Thursday night and refused to come out, until police used chemical agents to force him into custody. The suspect, identified as 35-year-old Daniel Wusk, was booked on suspicion of felony menacing after a tense standoff that unfolded in a residential corridor just before 11 p.m.
Officers responded to the 3000 block of North Nevada Avenue at around 10:40 p.m. on Nov. 12 after getting reports of a man wielding a rifle near North Nevada Avenue and East Fillmore Street, according to FOX21 News Colorado. A victim told police that a man had pointed a rifle at him, the outlet reports, prompting the Colorado Springs Police Department response that followed.
Investigators turned to the Real Time Crime Center, which accessed surveillance footage showing the man with the rifle going into a nearby abandoned building, per the same report. Police identified him as Wusk and asked him to come out, but he refused.
Tactical Unit Called In During Standoff
With Wusk still holed up inside, officers obtained a search warrant and called in the Tactical Enforcement Unit to assist at the scene, the station's report states. Rather than force their way in immediately, officers used chemical agents on the building in an effort to flush Wusk out.
Wusk surrendered after police deployed the chemical agents and was taken into custody, according to the same account. He was then booked into the Criminal Justice Center on probable cause for felony menacing.
Not the First Rifle Scare Along the Avenue
This is not the only recent case in which Colorado Springs police have responded to reports of a rifle near North Nevada Avenue. In a separate incident, officers were called to the 5400 block of North Nevada Avenue after a man allegedly threatened someone with a rifle at an apartment complex, according to a report from Yahoo News. Police issued a shelter-in-place order for the area near North Nevada Avenue and I-25 while negotiators worked to resolve that standoff, and the man, identified as 30-year-old Emmanuel Alfaro, ultimately surrendered without incident and was taken into custody for felony menacing, per that report.
Another earlier case on North Nevada Avenue also ended in an arrest after hours of tension. One person was arrested on a Tuesday, Nov. 7, following an early-morning standoff on North Nevada Avenue that police linked to three armed robberies, with the suspects in those robberies dressed alike and matching similar witness descriptions, according to a separate FOX21 News Colorado report. Police said six people were initially detained, three were arrested on unrelated warrants, and one person who barricaded inside a motel surrendered peacefully after a standoff that ran from 4:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. That individual was held on suspicion of committing the armed robberies, with investigators noting further charges could follow as the case developed.
Earlier incidents along North Nevada Avenue also involved standoffs. Wusk was booked on probable cause for felony menacing as the investigation into Thursday night's standoff continues.
