Authorities say man assaulted mother, holed up in house for hours

ADVANCE, Mo. -- A nearly six-hour standoff ended Wednesday night with the arrest of a Wayne County man after authorities deployed tear gas into his mother's Advance home.

At about 6 p.m., authorities received a 911 call from an Advance woman, who reported she had been assaulted inside her home by her son, said Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner, who indicated the man's name is not being released at this time.

The woman's son, Hefner said, is someone authorities have dealt with in the past.

"He's been in and out of trouble," the sheriff said.

The man "was at his mother's house" on Benton Street, Hefner said. "He and his mother got into an argument. He has a short fuse, and he assaulted her."

Hefner said the woman had a laceration on the side of her head.

"He choked her; she didn't know what he hit her with," Hefner said.

Once his mother got out, "he barricaded himself inside," Hefner said. "There was a gun inside the house," which he found.

Responding to the scene reportedly were numerous officers with the Advance Police Department, Stoddard County Sheriff's Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol. Emergency medical services personnel and firefighters also responded to stand by at the scene.

"He wouldn't talk to us or anything," Hefner explained. "He started shooting the gun inside the house and made the statement that if anybody tries to come in, he'll try to kill them. He's anti law enforcement, things of that nature."

A highway patrol negotiator responded, and a phone system was set up "where we could talk to him," Hefner said, estimating negotiations went on for four to five hours "with no luck."

The suspect, he said, would hang up or talk a bit and then hang up.

"He made a few demands that were unreasonable, wanting alcoholic beverages and things of that nature," Hefner said.

As the standoff continued, Hefner said, Sikeston's SWAT team responded to assist.

Negotiations "went flat, dead actually," he said. "We heard nothing out of him for two hours. Occasionally, he fired the weapon inside" the house.

The decision, the sheriff said, was made to "shoot some tear gas into the house, then the SWAT team made entrance into the house."

The suspect was taken into custody at about midnight and booked at the Stoddard County Jail pending the filing of formal charges.

A small-caliber, semi-automatic handgun was seized from the home, said Hefner, who estimated between 10 and 11 rounds had been fired from the weapon.

Hefner said his department has used Sikeston's SWAT team before.

"Man, those guys are awesome; they are professional," Hefner said. "Those guys know what they are doing. We were very fortunate to have them respond to assist us, as well as the highway patrol."