Feb. 20--An 18-year-old Merrillville woman, distraught because her children had been removed from her care, alternately pointed a handgun at her head and leg as she told police officers she wanted to die Thursday afternoon, police said.
After about 15 tense minutes, Gary police had the handgun, and she was safely shuttled to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.
Police Cpl. Kwata Osborne was the first to arrive about 4:30 p.m. in the 4100 block of Jefferson Street, where a caller reported seeing a woman walking along carrying a handgun.
"She was just real distraught," Osborne said. "She thought the whole world was against her and she had no one to support her."
More Gary officers arrived, joined by Lake County police and the Gary SWAT team.
"It was tense. We didn't want her to kill herself in front of us, or harm us," Osborne said.
Osborne and Lake County police Officer Cory House started talking with her. "I told her she's got her whole life ahead of her, that God's not ready for her," Osborne said.
In the meantime, Gary Patrolman Brandon Gildon, a member of the SWAT team, used the telescope on his rifle to get a closer look at the handgun. He determined that there was no bullet in the chamber of the 9mm semiautomatic pistol and passed that information on to others on the scene.
"It couldn't be fired," Gildon said, adding that it would take only seconds for her to make the gun ready to discharge a bullet.
"She was really, really, really upset," Gildon said. "She asked us why we wouldn't let her do it."
As police continued talking to her, Sgt. Anthony Stanley began moving closer to her, then used his ballistic shield to knock the gun from her hand, the police report states. She fell to the ground and grabbed for the gun as police tried to get her under control, police said. Finally, an officer used a stun gun to subdue her.
The handgun was seized, and the teen was taken to the Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus for an evaluation.
Police learned later that child welfare workers had taken her two children, a girl and a boy, away from her and placed them in foster care. She was apparently homeless and had been "bouncing from place to place," Osborne said. She was staying with a friend in the city's Glen Park section, less than one block from the scene of the standoff Thursday when she took her friend's gun and left the house, police said.
She is charged with carrying a gun without a permit and resisting law enforcement, both misdemeanors.
"I hope she gets the help she needs," Osborne said.
Gildon added that the experience and training Gary officers receive -- aided by the many shared experiences with Lake County officers -- helped bring the situation to a safe conclusion for everyone involved.
"At some other places, it could have gone another way" Gildon said.
