Monessen man in custody after New Year’s Eve standoff

By EMILY BENNETT DILULLO

ebennett@yourmvi.com

For more than 10 hours Tuesday, Monessen police and a Pennsylvania State Special Emergency Response Team team attempted to coax a Monessen resident from his home.

In a New Year’s Eve standoff, the unidentified 50-year-old man hurled items at police and barricaded himself in his Westmoreland Avenue residence. 

Police won’t release the man’s name until pending charges of terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest and cruelty to animals are filed today.

Monessen Chief of Police Jim Smith said police have received complaints and concerns from neighbors about the individual over the past few weeks, adding that things began escalating Monday when he had to be removed from a local restaurant, was involved in a reported domestic dispute with one of his juvenile children and was allegedly seen jumping into traffic on Parente Boulevard. 

According to Smith, police attempted to deliver a protection from abuse order to the man’s home around 3 p.m. Tuesday. Smith said the mother of the child involved in the incident filed the PFA Monday. 

The man, who was on his porch, allegedly began throwing items at officers, then ran into his home, locked the door and refused to come out.

“He was totally non-compliant,” Smith said. 

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