MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office and SWAT team evacuated residents of one side of the Vernon Ridge Apartments complex on Thursday afternoon following a call concerning a man who has allegedly barricaded himself inside an apartment with a gun.
Captain Scott McKnight said the department received a call on Wednesday night about a man who had committed a burglary in Morrow County and fled towards Mount Vernon.
On Thursday, the department received an additional tip – that the man was staying in Vernon Ridge Apartments on Follin Avenue. An officer was sent to investigate and confirmed that this was the case.
Law enforcement was able to remove “somebody from inside the residence” who confirmed the tip, McKnight said. The department acknowledged there is a firearm with the man inside the apartment.
“We have barricaded that apartment and all the surrounding apartments,” McKnight said. “We’re just kind of sitting back now, getting our SWAT team together. This may take an hour, this may take 5-10 hours, time’s on our side at this point.
“The goal is, for safety reasons, that everybody walks away from this unharmed, and that he’s taken into custody and gets the help that he needs, if that’s what he needs.”
McKnight believes the call to the police department was made around 1 p.m. Thursday.
Five police department cars, three sheriff’s office cars, a number of unmarked vehicles and the SWAT team van blocked the entrance to the apartment complex. Residents stood outside and watched the officers assemble, as many cars were turned back at the entrance to the complex.
“Everybody’s safe at this point, including the suspect. He’s not going to do harm to himself at this point, he’s just kind of barricaded himself in there. So what we’ll do is, we’ll sit and wait this thing out, and our hope is always for it to end peacefully,” McKnight said.
“Like I said, whether it’s an hour from now or five hours from now – it could be 15 hours from now – but he kind of dictates how that happens too, on his actions. That’s why we start securing the whole perimeter and everything for everybody’s safety, and vacate the apartments as well.”
