SIDNEY – A man died following a standoff with the Sidney and Piqua Tactical Response Teams and the Allen County Bomb Squad that lasted approximately five hours Wednesday afternoon in Sidney.
With the aid of an Allen County Bomb Squad robot, law enforcement officials reported just before 6 p.m. that they observed the deceased suspect in a house on the 600 block of Fair Road.
“The end result is we did have one loss of life of a potential suspect of a domestic incident,” Sidney Police Chief William Balling said from a staging area at the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, approximately a quarter mile from the scene of the standoff. “We’ll be reviewing that throughout the night and we’ll be reviewing that actually probably through the next couple days.”
SWAT team members from Piqua arrived in Sidney at approximately 2:20 p.m. to join Sidney’s officers on the scene. Almost two hours later law enforcement fired gas rounds for the first time.
Additional gas rounds were fired around 4:40 p.m., shortly after which the Allen County Bomb Squad arrived on the scene. About one hour later a bomb squad robot breached a door of the residence and soon thereafter the death of the suspect was reported.
The suspect, who is thought to have been the only person inside the house, appeared to be armed with a rifle, Balling said.
“While I do feel bad that there was a life lost today, I feel very proud and glad that nobody else got injured,” Balling said.
The Sidney Police Department received assistance from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Sidney City Schools as they worked to divert traffic when nearby schools let out for the day.
“It was a huge help here on Fair Road when school let out from the middle school and high school with a very high volume of traffic with walkers and cars,” Balling said.
Police also received assistance from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Sidney Fire and Rescue, Dayton Power & Light and phone companies.
“Unfortunately it’s still a traumatic event that somebody did lose their life today,” Balling said. “We’re very thankful for the entire community, Sidney Schools for taking care of their kids and diverting traffic and the whole neighborhood for all the inconvenience that we had.”
