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Salem police have surrounded a South Salem apartment building where they think a man who fired a handgun has holed up.



The incident is taking place now at the Gateway Village Apartments complex, 1966 Madras St. SE, near the South Salem Courthouse Athletic Club in South Salem.
The incident began about 5:30 p.m. when emergency dispatchers radioed officers in the field about reports of a possibly intoxicated man in the vicinity of Madras and Commercial streets SE. According to reports, the man was firing a handgun into the air.
The man walked eastbound on Madras Street and entered the parking area of the apartment complex and eventually went inside a unit on the third floor of one of the apartment buildings, according to radio dispatches.
Police and witnesses reported hearing at least two gunshots come from inside the unit the man was believed to have entered.
“We’re just locking everything down right now,” Salem Police Officer Steve Chancellor said about 6:15 p.m. “We’re evacuating the surrounding buildings and going from there.”
Several police officers, a Marion County K-9 unit and a SWAT team are now on the scene as of 6:40 p.m.
Witness Zack Rosenblatt, 14, who was among those evacuated, said he saw a man with a “big handgun” in one hand and a pack of beer in the other.
The man was described as white, about 20 years old, and 5-feet-11 with a thin build.
Resident Pablo Seja also was evacuated.
“I was just sitting in my car, and cops came around with their guns out and they said you got to get out of here,” Seja said
Seja described the area as a nice, safe place to live, and he had never seen anything like this happen before.
There have been no reports of injuries since the incident began.
More information will be reported when it becomes available.
 
My father in law lives down the street from this. Said channel 12 was on scene. Sounds pretty curious. Somehow I'm sure the news will make this a gun issue instead of a personal issue.
 
Ummmm... I can't find the news artical for this one on my internet search...

News Release from: Salem Police Dept.
SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER STANDOFF WITH SALEM POLICE SWAT
Posted: April 11th, 2010 9:10 AM
Photo/sound file: <broken link removed>

40-year old Erik C Torfin of Salem was arrested by Salem Police SWAT Officers after a standoff of over four hours outside of his apartment in southeast Salem.

The incident began at about 5:20pm on Saturday, April 10th when Salem Police received several reports of a subject who was walking down Commercial St SE firing a handgun. Nobody was injured by those gunshots.

The investigation revealed that the subject entered a store near the intersection of Commercial St SE and Wiltse Rd SE, purchased some beer, then exited the store and began firing his handgun into the air, at the ground and at a bus shelter.

The subject then walked to an apartment at 1952 Madras St SE #3069, possibly firing more gunshots along the way. Witnesses followed him to the apartment and reported hearing what sounded like more gunshots coming from the apartment after he went in. Neighbors were evacuated from nearby apartments and buildings, and after attempts to contact the suspect in the residence were unsuccessful, the Salem Police SWAT and Tactical Negotiations Teams were activated and responded to the scene. For the next several hours negotiators attempted to contact the suspect through several avenues including telephone, loudspeakers and text messaging, but there was no response.

At approximately 10:52 pm, SWAT officers introduced non-lethal rounds into the suspect's windows and continued to urge him to either come out or communicate with negotiators. At 10:57 pm the suspect came out of his residence. However, he refused to comply with clear verbal instructions and shouted threats at SWAT officers, so a tazer was deployed in order to take him into custody. When the tazer was being deployed, Torfin fell and struck his head on the pavement and was transported to Salem Hospital for treatment.

As SWAT officers checked Torfin's residence for any additional subjects, they located a loaded handgun, a marijuana growing operation that included sophisticated paraphernalia necessary for growing marijuana indoors, drug packaging materials, drug scales and 51 marijuana plants in various stages of maturity. Torfin is being charged with three counts of Unlawful Use of a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, Criminal Mischief in the First Degree, three counts of Recklessly Endangering Another Person, Firearm Used In A Felony, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Unlawful Delivery of Marijuana and Unlawful Manufacture of Marijuana.
 
Gee, I am SO glad that marijuana is a harmless drug that does not lead to addiction, crime, or brain damaged violent behavior. I mean, you don't find marijuana users wandering down the street carrying cases of beer and randomly shooting guns off into a quiet neighborhood. Do you?...................................elsullo :cool:
 
Hea man, wowzer, that's not neat, what's up..?

I do believe this fellow died.. they say that he was tazered at least 2x. They will try to make this a gun issue, instead of drug or police using excess force. There is nothing nice about taking a hit from a tazer. For Us with bad hearts, it is often fatal.
 
Hea man, wowzer, that's not neat, what's up..?

I do believe this fellow died.. they say that he was tazered at least 2x. They will try to make this a gun issue, instead of drug or police using excess force. There is nothing nice about taking a hit from a tazer. For Us with bad hearts, it is often fatal.

I'm thinking if your engaging in this type of illegal activity, you are probably lucky law enforcement got to you first and only used a taser! I'm sick and tired of the "He was a nice guy, he was just having a bad day, the Police over reacted." attitude! If you don't wont to be "tazered" or worse by the cops don't follow this guys example.
 
I'm thinking if your engaging in this type of illegal activity, you are probably lucky law enforcement got to you first and only used a taser! I'm sick and tired of the "He was a nice guy, he was just having a bad day, the Police over reacted." attitude! If you don't wont to be "tazered" or worse by the cops don't follow this guys example.

:s0155: I agree. Why is it that I have reached 60 years in life and have never been mistreated by the police? Perhaps I never gave them a reason to mistreat me?????????
 

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