DUDLEY — A 10-hour standoff with a suicidal man inside a Dudley home ended Wednesday afternoon when officers were able to safely disarm him.
The man, whose name is not being released at this time, was taken into custody at about 4:30 p.m. and is being held in the Stoddard County Jail on a bond revocation stemming on earlier charges, said Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner.
“It could have ended very badly. Thank God it ended safely, and no one got hurt,” Hefner said.
The standoff, Hefner said, began after “we got the call around 6:30 (Wednesday) morning about a suicidal subject in the Dudley area.”
Deputies responded to the home, which was located on Highway WW, about two miles north of Dudley.
Negotiations with the man, according to Hefner, began between 7:30 and 8 a.m.
“It was all day,” Hefner said. “ … We talked, negotiated throughout the day inside the house with the subject.”
Hefner described it as “a little unusual” for officers to be inside the home for the negotiations.
“The door was open … he allowed us in to a certain part of the house,” Hefner said. “At times, we were in the same room with him.”
Hefner said the man was armed with a handgun.
“He had moments that he would get a little upset, then he would calm right down,” Hefner explained. “Then, he would go back to upset, then calm down. That was all day long.”
Throughout the standoff deputies and troopers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol were positioned around the house, Hefner said. Stoddard County EMS personnel also were on stand by near the home.
“He only threatened himself; he never threatened any of us,” said Hefner, who indicated no one else was inside the home other than the man.
Hefner said the man never actually gave up.
“We gained his confidence in talking to him throughout the day,” Hefner said. “As he got more comfortable with us, we got close enough we were able to disarm him.”
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