Portion of Airport Highway closed for 7 hours after man barricades himself in home

Ohio Department of Transportation workers shut down Airport Highway after a man barricaded himself in his home.

A Springfield Township man was taken to an area hospital Friday after a nearly seven-hour standoff that ended when law enforcement agents used tear gas, entered the home, and removed him, authorities said.

The man, who hasn’t been identified, was taken at 3:15 p.m. on a stretcher from the scene along Airport Highway between Albon Road and Timberwolf Drive. That section of Airport was closed during the standoff.

Authorities received a 911 call about 8 a.m. that the man was armed, had barricaded himself inside his home in the 8000 block of Airport Highway, and threatened suicide, according to the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office.

PHOTO GALLERY: Airport Highway Standoff: 1-25

Law enforcement officers, including sheriff deputies, Holland police, Ohio Highway Patrol troopers, and a Toledo police bomb squad arrived a short time later.

The highway was closed and negotiations with the man began.

Negotiators talked with him via cell phone intermittently for about two hours; then, after a break, for another two hours. Deputies said they occasionally could see him through the windows, a cell phone in his hand.

He was out of reach and could not be seen, so a decision was made to storm the house, said Sgt. Craig Hanna of the sheriff’s office.

The man was in the home alone, reportedly with a medical condition, and did not display a weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Lucas County SWAT team used gas canisters to enter the house. They found the man inside, conscious, and with unspecified injuries.

Deputies did not say whether weapons were recovered or whether shots were fired when the team entered. Several booms from what sounded like exploding gas canisters could be heard.

Lt. William Bowers of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Toledo post said the man had been arrested earlier in the morning and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol but later released.

In addition to the arrest, other factors that could have upset the man included possible financial and health problems, officials with the sheriff’s office said.

Several members of the man’s family were on the scene. They refused comment.

Nearby Crissey Elementary was temporarily locked down as a precaution. In all, about 12-14 police vehicles were on scene during the day, as well as 30-40 law enforcement officers at various times.

No charges had been filed Friday in the standoff, according to the sheriff’s office.

Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com or 419-724-6089.