Hostage Situation -Winstead(Litchfield)CT 6-18-06

[Ladder44 73]

Suicide ends standoff

WINSTED - A Winsted man, who police say broke into his ex-girlfriend's house Sunday and shot and wounded her boyfriend, apparently turned the gun on himself after a 15-hour standoff with police.

The man, identified by Winchester Police Chief Nicholas Guerriero as resident George Pelletier, was found dead by police inside 91 Torringford St., Apt. 7, around 6:35 p.m., State Police Major Robert Duffy said.

"He shot himself, it appears to be self-inflicted," Duffy said. "He was threatening us all day. He decided his own fate."

Pelletier carried through on his threats to kill himself with the shotgun he was brandishing after police fired multiple units of non-lethal tear gas into the apartment shortly after 6 p.m., Duffy said.

"This was an unstable, despondent and irrational individual that already shot one person and held a woman against her will," State Police spokesman William Tate said Sunday night.

The incident began around 3:30 a.m. at the Torringford Street residence when police responded to a report of shots being fired in the apartment building.

"I counted at least seven shots," said Matthew Malentacchi, 31, who lives in Apt. 11, above the unit where the shootings took place at the Torringford Street building. "There were a bunch of shots."

Malentacci, who shares the apartment with his girlfriend, Sarah Young, 30, said Pelletier had just ended a relationship with apartment resident Joylene Subklew and the two had been arguing over the past few days.

"They were fighting for the last week," Malentacchi said.

A restraining order filed by Subklew in Litchfield Superior Court April 7 against Pelletier was withdrawn April 17 after Pelletier agreed to participate in an anger management program, according to the state judiciary Web site.

"She had a restraining order and she let him back in the house," building resident Victoria Vosburgh, 42, said. "I told her to be careful last night."

Peter Bailey, another resident in the building, said he saw another man, Rob Emerson, run out of the building, knocking on doors and screaming, "I've been shot."

Bailey said he went to assist Emerson, who appeared to have been shot in the leg and side.

"I carried him to a chair," Bailey said. "By then, the ambulance was there."

Emerson was transported to a local hospital where he was treated and released for minor injuries later in the day, Tate said.

Police arriving on the scene set up a perimeter and called in the Emergency Response Team consisting of 15 to 20 officers from Winchester and Torrington, Tate said. Police then used a cell phone to communicate with Pelletier, who was still holing Subklew hostage in the apartment, Tate said.

Guerriero said the other residents were still in the building for 45 to 50 minutes until the tactical team could get in to escort them out.

"He was threatening to shoot us through the floor if we moved around," Malentacchi said. "I had my shotgun loaded and ready."

Young said she was thankful that the couple's two children were staying with relatives.

"There are 11 children in that building," Young said.

Police officers on the team, geared with shields and vests, entered the building and evacuated the residents. Some residents had to be removed later in the morning because they had slept through the shooting, Guerriero said.

"We had to do it piecemeal," Guerriero said. "Some people did not respond to the first time we knocked on their doors."

Subklew escaped the apartment at about 10:10 a.m., leaving Pelletier alone, Tate said.

As the standoff continued under a hot sun into the afternoon, building residents displaced by the situation were losing patience with police because they were prevented from returning to the building or retrieve their cars.

"This guy has more rights than we do," Malentacchi said. "If he has one bullet left, I wish he would do something with it."

Neighbors on the street, including residents from a condominium complex, offered police and displaced residents the use of their bathrooms, food and water.

"The neighbors have been really great," Vosburgh said.

Young said one neighbor bought a food platter so they could eat.

"We got more supplies from the community than from the police," Young said.

One of those neighbors, Doreen Risdorf, said she also heard the shots in her unit in the complex.

"I recognized the sound," Risdorf said. "My husband used to shoot skeet."

Risdorf said the situation, which kept a section of Torringford Road closed during the standoff, was delaying her visit to her father's grave at the cemetery down the road on Father's Day.

The State Police Emergency Services Unit replaced the local unit between 3 and 4 p.m. because some of the officers were on the scene for more than 12 hours, State Police Major Duffy said.

"He was resolute (on not coming out)," Duffy said.

Pelletier continued to be "irrational" and demonstrated mixed emotions as negotiations continued into early evening Sunday, leaving police little choice but to use the tear gas, Tate said.

"No rounds of deadly force were discharged by any officer," Tate said.

Winchester Police and members of the State Police Western District Major Crimes Unit started processing the scene Sunday night with a state's attorney and an inspector from Bantam Superior Court on site.

Tate said it would still be several hours before the residents could return to their apartments.