From: [r--n--d] at [apk.net] (Ragnar Danneskjold)
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 1995 12:09:15 -400
Subject: BATF siege at empty home


Last night at 11:00 PM the big story in Cleveland, Ohio was the siege at a 
house in Parma (about 10 miles Southwest of Cleveland).  At that time all that 
was known was that ATF attempted to serve a search warrant on a 23 year old 
man who lived with his parents.  When the agents tried to serve the warrant 
the man slammed the door on their face.  The BATF only had one choice, call in 
the SWAT teams.  

The TV crews in the field had to broadcast in the dark because the ATF and 
Parma SWAT teams turned off power and ordered them to kill the lights in the 
area.  The local talking heads speculated that the young man was holding his 
parents hostage, had a stockpile of illegal automatic weapons and had 
threatened BATF agents with weapons.

One local talking head, Ted Henry of ABC affiliate WEWS Channel 5, went as far 
as saying "well he must have quite a stockpile of weapons for the ATF to serve 
a search warrant."  

The siege lasted all night.  Over 60 officers from the BATF, Parma and local 
communities spent the night with their weapons trained on the house.  They 
tried bullhorns, inserting a hostage negotiation phone, inserting optics, and 
all the other common tactics one would expect.  They never made contact with 
the young man.

This morning at around 6:30 AM, a BATF dynamic entry team (if you've seen the 
pictures of the teams at Waco you know what these guys look like) went into 
the house backed up by the Parma SWAT team.  The team did not have to break 
down the door because they were able to get the keys from the young man's 
parents (OOPs, I guess they really were not hostages afterall).

After the BATF team secured the house they realized that no one was home 
(OOPs, I guess their was not really a standoff afterall).  One of the local 
talking heads guessed that this 23 year old desperado walked out a back door 
that was blocked from view by a wooden privacy fence.  The talking head did 
not venture a guess as to why the team of four agents (I am assuming that 
there were four and not just two because of statements made this morning by 
the BATF.)  who originally went to the house did not secure the back door when 
they felt it necessary to call in the guys in black body armor.

They BATF searched the house today but would not comment on what they found.  
The talking heads did mention that they did not see the BATF emerge carrying 
anything from the house (OOPs, maybe there was not a stockpile of illegal 
automatic weapons afterall).  No one knows if the young man is considered a 
fugitive because the BATF is not issuing anymore comments.

One final note,  after the house was secured but before the search a BATF 
spokesman explained a couple of interesting points. First they were not an 
serving an arrest warrant, only a search warrant so the press should not 
expect any arrests.  Second, the first two agents who approached the house and 
had the door slammed in their face did not have the warrant with them; the 
other two agents were somewhere else with the warrant (I assume, perhaps 
wrongly, that these agents were at the scene but who knows.).  Third, the 
spokesman said that the agents were suprised the by mans reaction because this 
was just a routine search.  (yea, a routine search of someones home, without a 
warrant, effected at 6:00pm on a Friday night so that if they find something 
they can keep the guy in lockup all weekend before you have to take him before 
a magistrate).

-- 

"They're not heavily armed jackbooted thugs... they're heavily armed 
 jackbooted clowns."

"They should issue these guys clown noses, rainbow wigs and big red 
 floppy shoes."

    --- a friend commenting on the BATF