A man with a gun who held negotiators and law enforcement at bay for more than five hours Thursday was taken into custody inside with the help of a Denver police dog.
Police had twice pumped small amounts of tear gas into the home, before sending in the dog at about 6:15 p.m. The man was bitten on the arm by the dog and then surrendered to officers, said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
His name has not been released.
Jackson said he man fired his gun at police, but neither the dog nor officers were hit.
“He’ll be held on numerous charges, including domestic violence and attempted homicide of a police officer,” Jackson said.
The standoff began about 1 p.m. as a domestic violence situation. Jackson said the man’s wife called police to say her husband was firing his gun inside their home in the 2500 block of South Tennyson Street in southwest Denver.
As police surrounded the home and neighborhood schools were put on lockdown, the man continued firing inside, Jackson said.
“He was possibly intoxicated,” Jackson said. “We’re investigating that as a possibility.”
No one was hit by the gunfire.
Jackson said negotiators were in contact with him at times, while SWAT officers monitored the home from the perimeter.
Seven schools in Harvey Park and the surrounding area were on some level of restriction immediately after as police assessed the risk, but only two campuses in the immediate area were on full lockdown — meaning “no one in, no one out,” said Denver Public Schools spokeswoman Kristy Armstrong.
Just before 4 p.m the Kunsmiller campus (which includes the Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, Kunsmiller Middle School and the Harvey Park campus of West Denver Prep) was released from lockdown.
At about 4:35 p.m., the second school, the Doull campus, immediately south of the standoff, was declared safe.
“Police work with us and once they determine it’s safe, they tell us which schools we can lift,” Armstrong said.
Earlier Doull students were being moved to John F. Kennedy High School, where their parents or guardians were allowed to pick them up.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
