Police standoff in Elkhart Tuesday night leads to two arrests
ELKHART, Ind. -- The Elkhart Police Department reports officers responded to a residence at 708 South 11th St. to serve 46-year-old Jeffrey Flores Gonzalez with four arrest warrants around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Police say while on scene, officers were able to get a juvenile boy and a woman outside the residence. Both were unharmed.
Authorities say Gonzalez refused to come outside and barricaded himself in the house.
The report states he still refused to exit after officers issued commands over the loudspeaker, including warnings that a chemical irritant could be deployed if he did not exit.
Officers say they were unsure at the time where he barricaded himself in the house.
A judicial search warrant was then obtained and executed.
During the execution of the search warrant, the report states gas, pepperballs, were deployed inside.
Officers then found Gonzalez in the basement of the house and took him into custody without further incident around 9:30 p.m.
Authorities say no one was injured and no shots were fired.
Medics then arrived to decontaminate Gonzalez due to his exposure to the gas.
Gonzalez refused treatment. Police say this was an isolated incident, and there is no further danger to the public.
Gonzalez was arrested and booked into the Elkhart County Jail on his four active warrants, which include Disorderly Conduct, False Informing and Operating a Motor Vehicle Without a License, Felony Intimidation, Theft-Prior, Misdemeanor Domestic Battery, Resisting Law Enforcement, and a Probation Violation Warrant.
He was also booked on preliminary charges of Resisting Law Enforcement, a Class A Misdemeanor, and Invasion of Privacy, a Class A Misdemeanor, in connection with the standoff incident.
This case will be forwarded to the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office for review of formal criminal charges.
The woman who exited the home, identified as 45-year-old Celine Gonzalez Mejias of Elkhart, was arrested and booked into the Elkhart County Jail on an outstanding and unrelated warrant for felony theft out of Elkhart Circuit Court.