Shot prompts standoff

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Ashland police and SWAT teams are positioned on South Mountain Ave. outside a home where an armed suspect is believed to be barricaded inside..Bob Pennell

By Hannah Guzik

Ashland Daily Tidings

November 03, 2009

The Medford Police Department SWAT team joined Ashland police stationed outside a South Mountain Avenue house this morning where a shot was fired at 5:15 a.m.

A 27-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was believed to be alone inside the house in the 600 block of South Mountain Avenue, Ashland Police Chief Terry Holderness said.

Police believe no one was injured when the shot was fired from inside the house and only the suspect is believed to have been inside at that time, according to the Ashland Police Department.

"This is really isolated to one resident," Holderness said.

As of noon today, the SWAT team and Ashland police remained stationed outside the home, less than a block away from Southern Oregon University.

The man barricaded himself inside the house early this morning. SWAT negotiators arrived on the scene at about 8 a.m., Holderness said. The chief declined to release further details about the negotiations or the suspect.

Holderness said at 11:45 a.m. that police believed the man was still alive inside the home.

"We have no reason to believe that the gentleman is not alive," he said.

The suspect was the only one at the home when officers arrived on the scene early this morning, Holderness said.

"There was no one to be evacuated from the home," he said.

Police closed the 600 block of South Mountain Avenue to traffic after the shots were fired and rerouted cars around the scene of the incident. The area remained closed to traffic at noon today.

"We don't want anyone driving in front of the house," Holderness said.

Neighbors in homes adjacent to the home where the shot was fired were voluntarily evacuated this morning, Holderness said.

Although the residence is near Southern Oregon University and Ashland High School, police do not believe the suspect poses a danger to anyone outside the 600 block of South Mountain Avenue, the chief said.

"It's close to the university, but it's not that close and we don't really see any danger outside that immediate area," he said.

An armed Ashland police officer standing at a barricade at the intersection of South Mountain Avenue and Prospect Street, overlooking the SWAT vehicles, told reporters gathered behind him at 10 a.m., "Just so you understand, this isn't necessarily a safe spot."

From the barricade, two SWAT armored vehicles could be seen maneuvering on South Mountain Avenue, as officers stood behind them. Occasionally a neighbor could be seen peering at the scene from a yard or window.

Having a SWAT team in Ashland to handle a crime is unusual, Holderness said.

"This is the first time we've had a SWAT team in town, other than for training, in the 21/2 years since I've been here," he said.

Contact staff writer Hannah Guzik at 482-3456 ext. 226 or hguzik@dailytidings.com.