Knife-wielding New Jersey man prompts 15-hour SWAT team standoff

A 15-hour standoff betwixt instrumentality enforcement and a knife-wielding fishy successful Passaic region prompted the effect of a SWAT team and the usage of a chemic cause to unit his surrender, officials said.

Authorities were called to the residence successful Wayne connected Preakness Avenue to analyse reports of a man, since identified arsenic Thomas Pfefferkorn, who was expressing “suicidal thoughts,” Wayne Police Public Information Officer, Detective Captain Dan Daly told TAPinto.

When they arrived connected the country conscionable aft 6 p.m., archetypal responders were initially met by Pfefferkorn’s father, past Pfefferkorn, who was wielding a “large knife” that helium  “waved” astatine responding officers.

“He closed the doorway and ran distant earlier appearing again successful an upstairs window, tapping the knife against the glass,” said Daly. “Officers instantly called for backup, acceptable up a perimeter and closed Preakness Avenue.”

At that point, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department SWAT squad and a situation involution squad and paramedics from St. Joseph’s Health were called to the home. Both agencies spent the adjacent 15 hours trying to negociate with Pfefferkorn and coax him backmost extracurricular to nary avail.

When Pfefferkorn stopped communicating, the SWAT squad deployed gas. He was taken into custody soon thereafter and “transported to a aesculapian installation for evaluation,” Daly said.

A consequent hunt of the location turned up “multiple firearms” and “illegal high-capacity magazines” adjacent though Pfefferkorn’s begetter told constabulary that determination were nary guns astatine the residence. Pfefferkorn was arrested and charged with “possession of a limb for an unlawful intent and being a definite idiosyncratic not to person weapons,” constabulary said.

“Based connected the gravity of the situation, I’m precise blessed that everyone came retired without immoderate injuries due to the fact that this could person turned into thing overmuch worse,” Wayne Mayor Chris Vergano said. “’I’m precise arrogant of our Police Department, and however they handled the situation.”