The Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A man who fired gunshots off his apartment balcony and held police at bay during a six-hour standoff had several guns and “quite a bit of ammunition” in his possession, police Lt. Tod Dahle said.
The standoff, which began early Tuesday night, ended peacefully after a three-person negotiating team talked the man into surrendering. The 26-year-old man was taken to a hospital to be checked out for consumption of alcohol before being booked into jail, Dahle said.
Asked what led to the incident, Dahle said, “We don’t know for sure specifically. He wasn’t real forthcoming.”
Police recovered three rifles, one shotgun and several handguns in the man’s apartment, Dahle said Wednesday.
Officers had surrounded the apartment complex in southwest Fargo. Witnesses said the man had stepped out on the second-floor balcony several times and fired dozens of rifle shots in the air.
The man also fired nine shots through an interior hallway of his apartment, four of which went into the wall of an adjacent apartment that was vacant at the time, Dahle said.
No shots were fired by police, Dahle said. No one else was inside the apartment during the standoff, he said.
Police kept residents in the area away from their homes. By midnight, they had established phone contact with the suspect. Dahle said authorities were not certain the man was alone in the apartment until after he was arrested.
Dahle said the man fired three different guns from the balcony. Police said the man may have fired off at least 50 shots by 8:35 p.m.
Victor Marichalar, 22, said he was stopped by police when he tried to go home to his apartment from work.
Marichalar knew his fiancee, Danielle Gjestvang, 19, was in the apartment they share, so he tried to sneak past officers by climbing over a balcony.
When he was stopped again by officers, Marichalar went to a nearby friend’s place and called Gjestvang on his cell phone. He said the two phoned each other about every 10 minutes as the night wore on.
In one call, Gjestvang said she and her brother, Nicholas, 18, locked themselves in their apartment and turned off the lights when they heard yelling and gunfire start about 6:30 p.m.
She said police told them to stay there, so they sat in the dark and listened for hours as the gunman periodically fired off shots.
Around 10 p.m., she and her brother left the building, surrounded by police officers.
“We had to tippy-toe down the stair,” Nicholas Gjestvang said.
Neighbors stood along a cul-de-sac near the apartment building, crouched behind pickups and vans. Several people peered through binoculars to watch the apartment where the man had stepped onto the balcony to fire shots.
“It’s probably kind of stupid standing here doing this, but I’ve never been to one of these before,” said neighbor Tom Woollweever.
Someone yelled, “Here he is,” each time the suspect stepped outside.
Neighbors said it appeared the man was shooting into the air except for the last time, when he appeared to aim at them. “All you could see is the horn of the barrel, then everybody hit the ground,” Woollweever said.