Leesburg officers encountered a suicidal man with a gun and didn’t fire

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/leesburg-officers-encountered-a-suicidal-man-with-a-gun-and-didnt-fire/2015/06/20/4fcb3a9a-1113-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html

?uuid=jd39Hg7YEeWg_tzP6kZT7g


The man called 911 to report trouble breathing, although in fact his plan was to commit suicide with a pistol and have paramedics find him. But when the fire-and-rescue truck arrived at his Leesburg apartment, he was still alive, holding his gun. The paramedics backed away and called the police.

Sgt. Mark Davis and Officer Alex Hilton of the Leesburg, Va., police pulled up soon after and peeked through the open apartment door. There the 78-year-old man stood, holding a gun against his chest, saying nothing. He would not answer dispatchers’ phone calls.

Davis and Hilton stepped in with their guns drawn, and Davis repeatedly told the man to put his pistol down. The man did not comply. Instead, he darted into the next room, hid behind a wall and held his gun out in the doorway, daring the officers to make the next move.

But this story does not end as many others have recently. The officers did not shoot.

Snip