By Matthew Bowers
Virginian-Pilot
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Two city police tactical-unit members were shot and wounded Thursday during a five-hour standoff in Churchland that ended with a mentally troubled man dead.
One of the wounded officers, whom police did not name, remained hospitalized overnight at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, said Detective Jan Westerbeck, police spokeswoman. The other officer was treated at the hospital and released.
The man, whom police said they would not publicly identify until today in order to notify his family first, was found dead of a gunshot wound or wounds about 6:10 p.m. when police stormed his one-story home on Campbell Street, near where it backs up to Academy Avenue.
The assault came after at least one sustained exchange of gunfire earlier in the afternoon that startled residents and bystanders who were kept waiting three blocks away. The state medical examiner’s office will determine whether it was police or a self-inflicted bullet that killed the man, Westerbeck said.
Police said the standoff began shortly after 1 p.m. when a mental-health worker arrived at the man’s house with a police escort - an arrangement Westerbeck said was not unusual. Neighbors and friends said he was a military veteran and had been in a group home for psychiatric issues until a year or two ago.
The man “armed himself with a sharp object,” Westerbeck said, and the visitors left and called for back up. In the meantime, the man armed himself with a gun.
Sometime after 2 p.m., as police surrounded the house, gunfire rang out.
Alfred Ward, a Churchland High School senior who lives next door, was waiting behind police lines after arriving from school when he “heard a boom, like a shotgun,” he said.
“I heard about 20 gunshots” in response, followed by more shots, he said.
Virginia State and Norfolk police - including a bomb squad - assisted Portsmouth officers, and Portsmouth Fire Department units joined ambulances at the scene, awash in flashing lights from dozens of emergency vehicles.
Shortly before 6 p.m., the muffled report of at least one stun grenade could be heard blocks away.
Gloria Amos said she was a friend of the man’s brother, and visited almost every day. She was there earlier Thursday and knew that officials were scheduled to visit, she said. She said the man was reluctant to let people inside the home and had turned away an electrician Saturday.
“I just know he wasn’t taking his medication,” Amos said. “He’s real nice. He’s nice to me.”
She said she would expect him not to let someone in. “But I never thought he’d get a gun and start shooting,” she said.
Libby Milon said she witnessed much of the standoff and the final assault from across the street. Some 50 officers surrounded the house and twice shot some kind of gas inside, rammed a black armored truck into the house and swarmed in, she said.
“After about five minutes, police came out and said, ‘All clear!’” Milon said.
Police closed off roads entering the Ebony Heights neighborhood off Towne Point Road. Forensics investigators were expected to work into the night, Westerbeck said.
Thursday evening, Portsmouth police Capt. Garrett Shelton told reporters at Norfolk General that one officer was heading into surgery and the other was being treated in the emergency room. Both had been shot in their extremities, he said.
“This was an unusual situation,” Shelton said, “where we were trying to assist an individual who needs help.”
Pilot writers Patrick Wilson, Jen McCaffery and Jim Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009 Virginian-Pilot