EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Seems like all hell is breaking loose in Indiana this week.
HERE’S THE UPDATE AS OF THIS MORNING, 12.20.11:
Stevie Rickard, the man who took a family hostage yesterday afternoon at a location on the east side of Evansville, is dead after police had to use lethal force to enter the residence at Vann Avenue where a standoff went on for more than six hours yesterday.
A woman in the home, Jennifer Peters, died of a gunshot wound, presumably inflicted by Rickard, earlier in the day, this prompting one of her two sons in the home to call 911 and alert authorities of what was going on. The boys are unhurt, as is their grandmother, who was allowed to leave the home earlier in the situation.
At about 10 p.m. last night police forcibly entered the home and engaged in a standoff with Rickard, who was armed heavily, and they shot him where he stood. He wasn’t killed immediately, but instead medical responders were called for him, but even with treatment Rickard couldn’t be saved.
Authorities aren’t saying what Rickard’s relationship was with Peters, although yesterday several were calling her his “wife” (so many people use that term freely and loosely these days that it could mean just about anything anymore; babymomma, girlfriend, divorcee, whatever, all without benefit of marriage), hence the original report here below.
Authorities are also not being clear on how the boys’ grandma may have been related to Peters, whether it was her mom; a former in-law; if she and Rickard had at one time been married, whether it was HIS mom; etc. Too many unanswered questions that local cops in the Midwest seem extremely unwilling to entertain.
Anyway, here’s the original post, unaltered:
From Stevie Rickard's Facebook page
Currently, there’s a serious situation going on at the 1900 block of Vann Avenue, between Covert and Pollack, on the east side of town. There, one Stevie Ray Rickard is said to be involved, and has allegedly gone to this residence, where his wife and two boys live, at about 3:30 this afternoon (12.19.11).
It’s unclear just what happened before that, but at about that time, one of the two boys, 6 and 12, called 911 to tell them his mom had been shot. Apparently both boys were unharmed.
When police responded, they saw a man running away from the home, and exchanged gunfire with him, but he ran back inside. It’s unknown if he was hit in the gunfire exchange, apparently none of the officers were injured. However, the man was able to barricade himself inside the home with apparently the injured mom, the two uninjured boys, and, police later learned, the boys’ grandma, who was later released after some negotiation with the man.
At this point, police are saying the man inside the Vann Avenue home is claiming he’s injured, but how that happened, it’s unclear, as there isn’t much to go by. Scanner listeners in the area are saying that the man has been identified as Rickard, who is shown here from his Facebook page, and although authorities haven’t officially said that this is who it is, scanner traffic has reported his name.
Tear gas was fired inside the home a little while ago….not the brightest idea with the kids there and potentially injured parents, but hopefully the SWAT team knows what it’s doing. The scanner has been silent since that time, interestingly enough.
We’ll catch up with this in the morning, we hope….we’re turning in for now….if you know anything, feel free to post it.