-
Two Cruisers
Responding to a call from dispatch of a boyfriend stealing and breaking her phone, Chief Deputy Marty Hart headed to Eastside Park for what he assumed would be a domestic call. It turned out to be a 10-hour standoff that involved multiple law enforcement agencies but ended peacefully with the arrest of Mark Sanders on Wanton Endangerment charges. He was also in violation of his probation and faces a potential return to prison to complete a seven-year sentence.
While Hart was in transit to the location, Sanders had barricaded himself with 9 mm handgun in the trailer located in Eastside Park. His girlfriend and owner of the trailer told Falmouth Outlook that Sanders had put the gun to his head and threatened to shoot himself. She was outside in the back of the trailer and fled to a neighbor’s home to call 911 for a second time. A teen son was able to run out of the trailer.
According to police reports, Sanders had been upset earlier and walked away taking her phone. He returned and that is when he threatened himself by putting a gun to his own head.
She indicated that he had walked away through the Northern Elementary parking lot where cars were starting to arrive for parent pickup. He returned from the direction of Butler by Lock Road that runs behind Northern Elementary.
Since the trailer is directly across from Northern Elementary, the school was placed on locked down. Eventually, the students were evacuated out of the building and onto their buses through the back of the building on Lock Road. Parent pickup also was diverted to the back of the building.
“The thing I was most impressed with was the lockdown and how dismissal of the students was handled,” said Hart, who was first on the scene.
Throughout the evening, Pendleton County Sheriff’s Office and KSP tried to communicate with Sanders via their pa system, but Sanders would give no indication that he heard them or that he was in the trailer.
Butler Chief of Police Kenny Hale worked with County Attorney Stacey Sanning to obtain an arrest warrant for Sanders.
Upon receiving the arrest warrant, KSP called in their Special Response Team which tore down a wall at approximately 1 a.m. SRT took control of the scene and used a robot and various versions of tear gas to entice Sanders to vacate the trailer.
Hart said, “They literally knocked down the walls and he walked out.”
Sanders had hidden under the trailer during the standoff via an access panel that is located within the home.
Sanders is housed in Campbell County Detention Center on charges of Wanton Endangerment first degree and a probation violation for felony offense of stalking 1st, FOEP 1st and PFO. He was arraigned on a $5,000 cash bond.