A Pottsville man is in Schuylkill County Prison after an hours-long standoff in the city on Sunday morning.
During the standoff at a home in the 800 block of W. Race St., police say they helped rescue several children from a second-story window and others jumped from a roof and were rushed to safety.
In an affidavit filed in District Court, Pottsville Police Det. Joseph Krammes says police were summoned to 817 W. Race St. just before 4 a.m.
Dispatchers told police that Jonathan Dale Reed was at his home there. Reed had an active mental health warrant out on him.
As Krammes arrived, he saw people screaming and running from the area of that W. Race St. address.
One of Reed’s family members told police that he was armed with a gun and that he had dumped a type of gasoline on the floor of the house.
Krammes says Reed entered his home as police arrived and that’s when authorities established a perimeter around the home on W. Race St.
As Krammes went to the rear of that home, he saw a man asking for help getting his two children and other family members out of the building. The children were lowered out of a second-story window to Krammes. Three other members of that family then jumped from a second-story roof.
All five people were then quickly removed from the scene and attention then fully focused on Reed.
Krammes says Reed ignored multiple commands to exit the home.
After about an hour into the standoff, the State Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) was deployed. Race and Speacht streets were shut down from Seventh to Ninth streets.
SERT made several attempts to get Reed out of the home but then at about 7:45 a.m., police observed Reed pointing a long rifle out of a window in their direction.
Krammes says in his affidavit that Reed pointed the gun at police a total of five times.
Eventually, gas was deployed into the home, based on what a member of State Police told The Canary at the scene on Sunday, to force Reed out of the home and into custody.
Reed was arraigned before District Magistrate AJ Serina on Sunday, who ordered him remanded to Schuylkill County Prison on $250,000 cash bail.
He’s facing multiple felony charges, including 5 counts of second-degree aggravated assault and a single count of third-degree risking a catastrophe.
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