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STANDOFF/From 1AK JESSIE SL*TEHV*«)d7c«XQ As New Braunfels Fire Department crews cont nue to arrive at 46 Sable Circle, Battalion Chief Frank Gon/ales (left) and Fire Chief John Herber survey the area.the television. At 8:15 a.m..Mother and eon later went to the Comol County Women's Center.Mikkelsen then held offi-iera at bay for 12 hours while NBPD negotiator Chris Snyder tried to persuade him to come out,“He repeatedly said he wanted to ‘end it all,- a police official said.Johnson said that several timcB during the predawn hours, police thought they would get MikkeLsen to come out of tho house.He asked for a news crew to videotape the surrender to make sure he was not going to fce injured in any way.“He’a extremely worried about being hhie waved (hurt by police)Snyder explained to the chief.Be sure and let him know they’re no* going to hurt, him,” Johnson told the negotiator.A television news crew responded and Johnson himself backed the TV truck into position on Dogwood Drive and later ordered it floodlit so Mikkelson could see it.Johnson said Mikkelsen then ceased communications; he’d disabled two out of throe phones in his $140,000 house.So Johnson said police tried hollering” at him through bullhorns. And a policeman who knew Mikkelsen spent and hour and a half trying to talk him out of the house.“But throughout the night, the subject had informed police he wasn't going to leave his home ” Johnson said.Johnson said police behoved the man had multiple weapons inside.“At one point, we had the individual come ~a the fiont of tho residence. He had u semiautomatic pistol in the front of his pants and had a large caliber rifle pointed at his chin, Johnson said.Mikklesen was talked out of using the weapons.After a night of standoff at 8:09 a.m., police stood with weapons at their sides around Mikkelsen's home. Power had been cut off to keep Mikkelsen from turning onpolice brought lood lor Mikkelsen.The Comal County Sheriff's Office SWAT and crisis negotiation teams were dispatched.At about 8:25 a.m., Johnson, police officers and Comal County Sheriff's deputies diagramed Mikkelsen’s house on the closed trunk of a police car.SWATs coming in 30 minutes, Johnson 9aid. “I don't want it on the air” the chief said, referring to the nearby television crews.Johnson then told Comal County Sheriff's dctoctive Rex Campbell that there were guns on either side of the couch in the living room if the home. Campbell drew a schematic of the house, care-ftilly writing notes and asking questions of Johnson.Is there grass back here? Is the yard pretty clear? Campbell asked.Another policeman. Karry Couch, told Campbell about the telephones Mikkelsen had ripped out.We tossed him a cell phone and he wouldn’t pick it up, Couch said.Couch also said Mikketoen’s son told police his father wasloading everythingThen Johnson weighed in, pointing out more schematics.This is tho bedroom here, Johnson said. 'This is their covered porch, ho said, pointing to the top of his page with his pen. It’s got like, French door*he saidWhat’s his major malfunction? Is he a maniac? asked Campbell.Johnson said he wasn't sure.Then things got scary.Get down, he’s got a gun, someone yelled at 8:59 a.m.Officers backpcdaled away from the side of the home. Some crouched over tho truck in the driveway. All brandished weapons.At 9 a.m., the onlookers heard glass shatter.A minute later, there were more crashes of gins*.Bight officers aimed their weapons as more glass was broken.Come on Berm, bilk to us, a policeman said. “Bernie, come on out.At about 9:25 a.m., Mikkelsen allegedly set a fire in a back bedroom.New Braunfels Fire Department Battalion chief Frank Gonzales ordered hismen into position as sheriff’s Lt. Brent Paullus deployed his SWAT team and secured the area.It wasn't safe for firefighters to approach the home, Gonzales said, so hi9 crown used an aerial truck to train water on the structure and try to protect the two adjacent homes.Officials held out little hope for Mikkelsen's survival as the home burned for more than an hour.“I think we worked very hard to bring this to a peaceful resolution. We're disappointed that we couldn't have ended this without any injurios, Johnson said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t always turn out that way.”At one point during the fire, Mikkelsen pried the garage door up with a piece of lumber, but allowed it to fall.’The fire was in full bloom, said Lt. John Villarreal. Then, in the smoke and flames, the garage door rose. He let it fall back down.As the house burned, SWAT members e*»rted two firefighters to the g door. They cut it open and Mikkelsen was found lying face up behind it, between the family's two vehicles.His feet were moving, but he was unconscious; his rifle was beside him on the floor of the garage.Fire Chief John Herber said it was hard to imagine anyone surviving in tho blaze.The atmosphere — the environment — was just not conducive to life, and 1 don't understand what ho was doing in order to protect himself, Herber said.He was in that burning house for an hour and 20 minutes. Right when it started on fire, there were areas of the residence that weren't affected, but later on, he had to lie cooking. With no apparent burns on his body, he had to be doing something, just to live, Herber said.(Slafl photographer K. Jessie Slaten contributed to this report.)
Newspaper Details
New Braunfels Herald Zeitung
New Braunfels, Texas, US
Sat, May 03, 2003
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Sean B.
TX, USA 14 Dec 2015
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