The Associated Press
ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - A man holed up in a house during an hours-long police standoff fatally shot himself minutes after police fired tear gas inside, sending two small children fleeing from the home.
Madison County Sheriff Terry Richwine said a woman who police believe was Todd Eugene Tranbarger’s girlfriend told officers Tranbarger was alone inside the home. She had called police late Wednesday, accusing him of stalking her.
Neighbor Ruth Smith said the after police fired two tear gas canisters inside the home, she watched as the two children, barefoot, in pajamas and coughing, fled the home, followed by their father, Steven T. Shoopmon.
“They were scared, but I don’t remember them crying. They were scared to death. They were coughing and said they had asthma and couldn’t breathe,” Smith said.
Minutes later, SWAT team officers barged into the home and watched in horror as Tranbarger, 36, shot himself in the head with a shotgun about 3 a.m. Thursday.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team had surrounded the house about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday with the sheriff and another half dozen officers, banging on the door for several hours and asking Tranbarger over loudspeakers to come out.
They also called the home’s telephone and left messages.
Richwine said the standoff began after an unidentified woman filed a complaint with police, alleging that Tranbarger was stalking her.
“She complained that he was giving her death threats,” Richwine said. “He had broken into her house a time or two and he had done some other things that we considered as stalking.”
Shoopmon, the father of the two children, was taken to Madison County jail, and his children were turned over to Child Protective Service, Richwine said.
He said police are going to pursue charges against Shoopmon for child endangerment.
“He placed his children in severe danger knowing the SWAT team was coming in,” Richwine said.