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Mahwah officers sent to Juniper Way in the Society Hill condominium complex on a welfare check of a suicidal 64-year-old Fair Lawn man Sunday morning found his car parked nearby.
They’d requested a Bergen County Sheriff’s K-9 unit and were standing near the vehicle when the man emerged on a nearby balcony around 10:30 a.m., witnesses told Daily Voice.
“He began yelling at the officers and threatened to shoot them several times,” one said.
Then he locked himself inside and pulled the blinds, a witness said.
Members of a Bergen County Regional SWAT and Regional Crisis Negotiation Team responded along with Mahwah Police Emergency Services officers who established a perimeter.
Area homes were evacuated as worried residents and others posted questions and comments on social media.
Among the barricaded man’s troubles was a fire that had ravaged his home a little over a year ago, law enforcement officers with direct knowledge of the incident told Daily Voice.
SEE: Fire Blows Through Roof Of Fair Lawn Home
Several attempts to communicate with the man on Sunday failed. Nearly three hours had passed before the OK was given -- out of concern for his safety – to storm the door.
The former Ridgewood and New City (Rockland County) resident was seized without incident and taken to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus.
As of late Monday morning, Mahwah police hadn't told area residents exactly why some of them were pulled from their Easter dinners. A 9:30 a.m. email request from Daily Voice for information to Police Chief Steve Jaffe and Deputy Chief Stuart Blank hadn’t been answered.
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The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Or text CONNECT to 741-741.You are not alone.
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