By Sean Garmire
The Eureka Times-Standard
ARCATA, Calif. — A 10-hour standoff between police and a man who was allegedly shooting with a crossbow from his second-story apartment ended with an arrest early Monday morning.
Arcata police officers were called at 5:28 p.m. to the Village Apartment complex at 300 Union St., where 33-year-old Christopher Buisett was reported to have used a crossbow to fire a number of arrow-line projectiles, called bolts, out his apartment window.
It did not appear Buisett was aiming at any people, said Arcata Sgt. Todd Dokweiler. However, at least one of the bolts struck “within a couple feet of some people.”
Dokweiler said there was no apparent motivation for the shooting.
When authorities attempted to contact Buisett, he would not answer the door, but officers could hear him moving inside the apartment, Arcata police reported.
Police established a perimeter around the area and brought in a negotiator and mental health crisis worker, which Dokweiler said is “standard procedure if someone’s acting in a manner that’s bizarre.”
Officers threw a phone through the apartment window in an effort to open communication with Buisett, but authorities reported he did not respond until several hours had passed.
Buisett spoke briefly with police, but refused to leave the apartment.
When Buisett ended communications, law enforcement obtained an arrest warrant, Dokweiler said.
“We like to use every option we can to talk someone down,” Dokweiler said. “We let the individual wear down; it reduces the risk for us and for them.”
Raising a camera on a pole to look into the window, police were able to observe Buisett sitting on a couch inside his apartment. Authorities raided the room and took Buisett into custody without incident, Arcata police reported.
Sky Scholfield, a College of the Redwoods student, lives in the Village Apartments and watched much of the standoff from his apartment.
“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “Once it got dark, they weren’t letting people in or out” of the apartment complex.
Scholfield recently moved into the apartment, but said he is not concerned about violence in the area.
Buisett was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and charged with vandalism, discharge of a weapon within city limits and probation violation.
Copyright 2008 The Eureka Times-Standard