| By Big Radio News Staff |
Janesville police investigators have cordoned off a home at 12 N. Washington St. where authorities say police held a nearly 11-hour standoff after a man in the home shot a gun at officers early Tuesday.
SWAT officers and police tactical vehicles cleared the scene shortly before noon today and reopened a stretch of West Court Street just west of the Five Points intersection that police had sealed off during the standoff.
Police haven’t given details of how the standoff ended, but it seems to have ended shortly before noon, shortly after police had surrounded the house with rifles ready and pole-mounted cameras activated to look inside the home.
Police radio chatter around noon indicated that officers were being instructed not to move any items in and around the home, which is at the northeast corner of West Court and North Washington streets. Police then roped off the area around the house with yellow police tape as officers, some wearing latex gloves, investigated the property.
Janesville Police say they responded to the residence about 1 a.m. Tuesday to talk with a suspect in a domestic violence incident when the man opened fire with a gun, firing several shots at officers.
Police say nobody was injured in that gunfire. It’s not clear if officers returned fired.
The Janesville Police Department SWAT team had been on scene since about 4 a.m. Tuesday, with officers trying to get the man to surrender.
A Big Radio news reporter on scene observed police SWAT officers on the roof of an adjacent warehouse, and police used a tactical, armored vehicle to punch holes in windows as officers appeared to repeatedly fire tear gas into the house.
Shortly before noon, police lined up on home’s the front lawn appeared to fire more tear gas canisters into the home, while more officers lined up under a window on the south side of the home, with rifles ready, as they used a camera on a pole to observe inside the house.
Shortly after that, officers moved around to another side of the home. SWAT officers a few minutes later disbanded operations at the house, and Janesville Fire Department officials and an ambulance arrived on scene.
Janesville police in an update shortly after noon say there is now no imminent threat to the neighborhood, but they say an investigation and police presence continues on scene. No other information on the incident is available, but police say they intend to release more details later.
The house is registered as being owned by a Rexhep Menxhiqi and Shukerije Menxhiqi since 2003, according to city property tax records.
As of late afternoon Tuesday, police had not responded to repeated inquiries by WCLO reporters for more details on the standoff and the apparent, ongoing investigation on site.
The standoff drew about 50 onlookers who gathered at a gas station parking lot a block south of police lines around the standoff.
As the standoff continued to roll out through Tuesday morning, some onlookers used their phones to live stream the SWAT teams’ movements, while others listened to police radio chatter and formed theories on the shooting.
One man who identified himself as “Mike” said he’d been filming on the scene for hours, with hopes to sell the footage to some news media outlets.
Some others on scene theorized on the SWAT team’s strategies, and they traded rumors about the history of people who they say used to live at 12 N. Washington St.
West Court Street from the Five Points intersection to Pearl Street had been closed since about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
WCLO will update this story as more information comes available.
