Armed man arrested in Pocatello standoff

UPDATE:Shannon Leavitt says her neighborhood was very nice when they moved in seven years ago.

“I wish it was a nice neighborhood like it was when we moved in,” said Leavitt. “I felt safer with my kids running out to play, but when I go to leave the neighborhood and I see all that at the end of the street, it’s scary.”

She said she witnessed a drug bust there a few months ago. She said she’s grateful for the police, but she would rather not see them dealing with dangerous people that live in her mobile home community, especially with three active kids.

“I really want to get out of here, because it’s just getting worse and worse,” Leavitt said. “But you run into stuff like that everywhere you go.”

She discussed Saturday’s situation, which started as a no-contact order violation.

When police found the suspect, he refused to get out of his car. They already had reports he had a gun, so they tried to negotiate by tossing a cell phone to him, but he had to get out of the car to get it, which he refused to do.

“So we had to call out our immediate response unit,” said Pocatello Police Captain Rick Capell. “Eventually we used a chemical agent to get him out of the car.”

Around 10:45 a.m., officers tossed a device into the car, which began emitting large amounts of smoke.

In under one minute, the suspect opened the door, crawled on his hands and knees away from the car, and surrendered himself to police.

Capell said this type of situation isn’t something folks in the community see every day, so it’s natural they want to get closer to see. But he said that’s the exact opposite of what you should do.

“The best idea is to stay in your home, on the far side of wherever this is happening,” he said.

Leavitt said this was exactly what she did, but said it was difficult to just wait inside while there was a man with a gun in her neighborhood, but the safety of her kids, herself and her husband were the only things on her mind.

Police say no one was harmed in this situation, but an ambulance did examine the suspect for effects after being gassed.

He’s now at the Bannock County Jail.

PREVIOUS STORY: The 800 block of Barton Road in Pocatello was closed Saturday morning due to a police standoff with an armed man.

The incident began around 7 a.m.

Lt. Paul Manning said the suspect’s girlfriend called police and told them he pulled a gun on her at a home. Police also said the suspect has a no contact order on the woman. The suspect barricaded himself inside of a car and was still armed.

After the man refused to negotiate with police, a SWAT team used a chemical agent to get him out of the truck around 10:45 a.m. Police took him into custody.