Stand Off Suspect Charged In Feb. 15 Assault

A man surrendered after Idaho Falls police surrounded an apartment and evacuated several nearby on the east side of town, Lt. Dennis Tremayne said.

According to police, at approximately 9 p.m., Timothy Murphy barricaded himself with a sawed-off shotgun inside his Chelsea Court apartment at 2235 12th St.when police attempted to serve him an Idaho Department of Correction Parole Commission warrant, Tremayne said.

Maintenance worker Jimmy Eckert saw part of the standoff as he responded to a maintenance call across the street from the Chelsea Court complex.

“What is going on over there?” he remembered asking himself. “But nobody knew anything.”

Police said it started on February 15 when a woman who had a relationship with Murphy came home to her apartment in the 1400 block of 12th Street in Idaho Falls and found Murphy with a bunch of friends.

“She confronted him about it, that’s when he hit her and then also threatened her with the gun,” said police spokeswoman Joelyn Hansen.

After the alleged assault, the woman left to stay with a friend, but didn’t immediately report the incident. IFPD said Murphy started sending the woman threatening text messages on Monday.

One read, “The only thing coming up missing is you.” Another read, “You’re playing with your life.”

She reported Murphy to police, who determined he had an outstanding felony warrant issued by the Idaho Department of Corrections.

“They talked to the victim and from there they went looking for him,” said Hansen. “They were told that he was at the Chelsea apartments.”

Police found Murphy at the Chelsea Court Apartments around 8 p.m. Monday, holed up in a friend’s apartment with a shotgun.

“It was definitely strange, said Eckert.

Police said Murphy wasn’t threatening police with the shotgun, but he was resisting arrest.

During the 3 to 4 hour standoff he also began to threaten suicide until police talked him out of the apartment and confiscated his weapon.

According to Police, there was a woman and infant child in the apartment during a portion of the stand off. Police confirmed she is not the same woman who reported Murphy to police.

Police said the woman and her child were never held hostage.

Our station spoke to another woman who says the two are safe and staying with her.

Those inside the eight-apartment building where Murphy was held up were evacuated at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, including the woman and child, police said. Other buildings in the complex were not evacuated. Those evacuated have been allowed back into their apartments.

Police negotiated with Murphy over the phone and, according to police, at 12:26 a.m., Murphy surrendered to police on his own volition.

No one was injured in the standoff.

Murphy is being held in the Bonneville County Jail.