By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

GRAMERCY — The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team worked for two hours Sunday to subdue a man who barricaded himself into a home during a reported threat of violence.

Deputies were dispatched shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday to a home in Gramercy after a woman reported her brother had caused a disturbance at her home and warned if she called authorities, “he would load all his guns.”

Deputies said the woman called 911 after her brother left her residence.

Members of the police department’s Special Response Team arrived and suited up “when the suspect stated that he would take anyone out that came in after him,” authorities said.

“SRT then made entry into the garage adjacent to the home and was able to talk the suspect out unharmed,” authorities said. “The entire incident lasted just over two and a half hours. The suspect was then transported to St James Parish Hospital for observation.”

St. James Sheriff Willy Martin Jr. said no one was taken hostage in the incident, and one nearby home was evacuated out of precaution.

“We prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Martin said.

Martin said several loaded weapons were found on a table near where the man was sitting, but the SRT team rushed the man before he could any of the weapons.

Martin said the man, whose name as not released, was taken into custody under a protective order and was being evaluated by a medical team. Martin said he did not anticipate his office would press charges against the man.