WALDPORT – A 43-year-old Waldport man is in the Lincoln County jail following a more than two-hour standoff with police following a call to a suicide prevention hotline and report of gunshots.
Timothy R. Swander is being held for unlawful use of a weapon and recklessly endangering others.
In a news release Monday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office said they received a report at 4:50 p.m. Sunday of a suicidal man in the rear of a small house he rented on Northwest Verbena Street in downtown Waldport.
A suicide prevention hotline worker called 9-1-1 to say they heard gunshots while talking to the man. In a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday in Lincoln County circuit court, a sheriff’s deputy said Swander told the hotline worker that if police came that he would shoot at them and they “would shoot back and it would be bad.”
When deputies arrived at the house they discovered that a woman and two young children lived in the front of the house. The court affidavit said the woman told deputies that Swander was very drunk and shot a handgun 10-15 times in the backyard.
Deputies then called for the sheriff’s multi-agency tactical response and crisis negotiations team.
The sheriff’s office said deputies were able to get the woman and children out of the house and helped evacuate neighboring homes.
Members of the tactical response team surrounded the house and crisis team negotiators established contact with Swander, who was taken into custody shortly after 7 p.m.
“Fortunately, no members of the community, law enforcement officers, or Swander were injured during the incident,” the sheriff’s office said its news release.
Records in Lincoln County circuit court show Swander has a history of driving under the influence charges, trespassing and improper use of 9-1-1 and completed court-ordered mental health and drug treatment programs in 2022 after being placed on three years probation in 2020.
At least Mr. Swander did not suffer the same fate as Viginia Lee Morris did last November. It sounds like the system in place worked well this time. My prayers are with all involved from Mr. Swander, to his family, to the law enforcement professionals.