Armed man surrenders, taken to hospital for mental evaluation following standoff at WPD Patrol South

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Update: The Wichita Police Department confirmed an armed man experiencing a mental health crisis inside a lobby of the department’s Patrol South substation near Pawnee and Broadway, prompted the heavy police response and temporary street closure. Police said officers negotiated with the man for about an hour before he put down his gun and “gave himself up without any further incident.”

Wichita Police Lt. Todd Ojile said officers learned the man’s gun was an air pellet gun that was a replica of a revolver. There were no injuries and the 57-year-old man was taken to a local hospital for a mental evaluation.

The situation began a little before 7 p.m. when, police said, an officer working the front desk at the substation near Pawnee and Broadway saw a man try to enter the main part of the building, stopped by a secured door at the front. The officer reported seeing the man enter a back door a short time later and enter a lobby.

Ojile said the officer left the front desk, came down the hallway and told the man that the station was closed.

“At that time, the man pulled what the officer believed was a handgun and held it to his head,” Ojile said.

Police said the man started asking responding officers to shoot him. Ojile said the officer who’d been at the front desk and a WPD lieutenant were at the station. Additional officers responded, assisting with keeping him in the back lobby as they negotiated with him. Ojile said officers negotiated with the man for about 45 to 50 minutes and tried one less-lethal round to disarm him. That round hit the man in the abdomen, but did not have an effect, he said. Ojile said negotiations continued until the man put down the gun.

Ojile clarified that the man never pointed the gun at officers.

Update: A Sedgwick County dispatch supervisor confirmed the situation prompting a heavy police response near Patrol South of the Wichita Police Department is over. There are no reports of injuries on the call that had a portion of Broadway temporarily closed near Pawnee.

A situation at the Wichita Police Department’s Patrol South rose to a level prompting a strong police response and a street closure. A portion of Broadway was closed off and police called for people to avoid the area.

Sedgwick County dispatch didn’t confirm the nature of the call but did confirm that there were no injuries. 12 News sent a crew to confirm details into what led up to the response.

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