Special tactics team storms house

Behind bullet-proof shields and gas masks, the Columbia Special Tactics and Response team stormed a house in the 1700 block of Hinkson Avenue, ending a four-hour standoff that began early Wednesday morning.

Police received an emergency call a little before 8 a.m., and when they arrived at the scene they saw a woman running from the house.

The woman told officers that her long-time boyfriend, Joe Hawkins, 20, had forced his way into her home, threatened and assaulted her with a gun and refused to let her go. The woman had placed the emergency call but remains unidentified because of what police said was a policy of not identifying victims of domestic violence.

Capt. Stephen Monticelli said that Hawkins had been drinking and was brandishing a handgun.

Officers determined the situation made it necessary to block off much of Hinkson Avenue and evacuate residents closest to the house. Authorities started to tape off more and more of the neighborhood, until the adjacent Ann Street was also cut off to the public. Shouts of “you’re in the line of sight” by officers, pushed bystanders farther and farther from the scene.

Monticelli said he decided that since the subject had barricaded himself within the house, the situation warranted a “Code Red.” The special tactics team and Crisis Negotiation Team were called to the scene.

“I kept asking him to come out, saying that he would not be harmed,” said Cynthia Crowe, an officer with two years experience on the negotiations team and one of two negotiators who attempted to communicate with Hawkins.

“I just kept repeating those general statements,” she said.

Bystanders were shouting for Hawkins to give himself up and come out.

Hours later the special tactics team circled the house and fired at least six canisters of pepper spray through a broken window. Despite the gas, Hawkins still refused to leave.

It was just after noon when the team stormed the house and forcibly removed Hawkins. Police say they found him hiding under a pile of clothes in a bedroom.

Hawkins was taken into custody and, according to a news release from the Columbia Police Department, has since been charged with a number of offenses, including domestic assault, first-degree burglary and unlawful use of a weapon. Hawkins was booked into the Boone County Jail on Wednesday night. Bail is still to be set.

For the neighbors on Hinkson Avenue, it was an eventful day filled with armored vehicles and 20 special unit officers firing pepper spray and flash-bangs, a noise-flash diversionary device.

The special tactics team was formed in 1976 and is focused on resolving situations that require greater training and experience than that of general patrolmen. Columbia does not have a full-time unit, instead utilizing volunteers from the police force who have undergone the required intensive training.

“We have a very professional team who take their job seriously,” Monticelli said. “Today, for example, was a very successful operation. We got him out without causing him harm, and we got our officers out without being injured.”

Hawkins has been charged on assault and weapons charges in the past.