Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Police arrest man after standoff downtown

Police arrested an Elizabethtown man Sunday night after responding to a report of a gunshot in a second-floor apartment in the first block of South Market Street.

Kirk J. Goldinger, 53, was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats. He was arrested after a standoff in which borough police called for assistance from the Lancaster County Special Emergency Response Team.

Police were dispatched after a neighbor reported hearing the gun shot from inside an adjacent apartment, according to a borough police news release. Officers made telephone contact with the occupant of the apartment where the shot was heard. An officer had a brief conversation with Goldinger, who then disconnected. Police said they attempted numerous other times to contact Goldinger by telephone and text, but he refused to communicate.

After calling in the county SERT team, all neighbors were evacuated from the surrounding buildings. The SERT team moved in and took Goldinger into custody without incident at approximately 11:12 p.m. There were no injuries.

This report followed earlier reports of unusual behavior and verbal threats made by the suspect to other neighbors in the same apartment complex, according to police. Officers were investigating that incident, interviewing the neighbors and working with crisis intervention when the shot fired call was received.

Goldinger was turned over to borough police and transported to Lancaster General Hospital for a mental health evaluation, according to police. He was released from the hospital and transferred back into police custody, arraigned before District Judge Jayne Duncan and released on his own recognizance but will with a $25,000 bond if he doesn't appear in court. 

In the morning hours of Monday police said they executed a search warrant on Goldinger's residence and seized several firearms, along with ammunition.

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