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JAMESTOWN – Law enforcement arrested a man after an hours-long standoff Thursday that evacuated an apartment building and nearby day care in northwest Jamestown.
According to police, some citizens showed up at the scene to help armed with firearms.
Kevin Gene Garnica, no confirmed address, was arrested at about 4:20 p.m. in front of an apartment building at 119 5th St. NW where he was reportedly armed with a gun and a knife, said
Jamestown Chief of Police Scott Edinger.
During the standoff, members of the James Valley Special Operations Team dropped some type of gas where a window was taken out by a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle with a ram. Shortly after, Garnica was asked to crawl out the front door. Earlier, the vehicle had opened the front door to the building.
Edinger said a woman fled the residence before law enforcement arrived but added that details of the incident were not clear. He said the initial information law enforcement received was that Garnica had a knife and later claimed he had a gun.
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Law enforcement went to the scene at around 10 a.m. Thursday. A perimeter was set up initially but was later expanded and several streets were closed.
“We locked down a little tighter because obviously, that is more of a concern at distance,” Edinger said, referring to the man’s claim of having a gun. “That’s when we evacuated the day care.”
Garnica initially came out the front door of the apartment building at about 1:45 p.m. The door was opened with the ambush vehicle about five minutes before he came outside.
Garnica appeared to set something on the ground before returning to the inside of the building. Edinger said he saw Garnica reach down and set something down but did not know what it was.
Garnica then came outside shortly before 2 p.m. holding a knife to his arm before he was shot “a number of times” with less-than-lethal rounds, Edinger said.
“Then he retreated back in and then decided to start negotiating with us,” he said.
Edinger said less-lethal rounds look like bullets that come out of a military-style grenade launcher but the front 2 inches are made out of foam rubber or wood.
Edinger said Garnica claimed he was injured. It was not clear if Edinger meant he was injured from the less-lethal rounds.
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The Special Operations Team used a small remote-controlled robot that has cameras and speakers.
“We can send that in and talk to them and deliver like in this case a phone so we can communicate,” he said.
People bring guns to scene
Edinger said there was a problem trying to keep people outside of the perimeter that was established. He said people thought they could drive around it.
“We are having to watch over the public to make sure some of those very obvious things are not being violated,” he said. “Then people (are) wanting to take matters into their own hands and bring their own guns. Those things are not helpful. We have a situation going on, and we have somebody that wants to handle it themselves. I get parents are looking to get their kids out of day care but they are making things way worse.”
The Special Operations Team includes members of the Jamestown Police Department, Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office, Stutsman County Sheriff’s Reserve and the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The James River crisis negotiations team, Jamestown Area Ambulance, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and Emergency Management was also on the scene.
