Police release few details, including the number of people taken into custody.
This story was reported and written by Post-Standard staff writers Charles McChesney and John Mariani.
Syracuse, NY -- An armed standoff that began with a police officer being shot at and returning fire ended peacefully Tuesday on Syracuse’s South Side.
“I’m declaring this a success,” said Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler as the standoff ended. He said that after police had escorted tenants – including children – from the apartments at the back of 1202 South Ave., his department’s Emergency Response Team had captured a number of suspects who were taken to police headquarters for questioning.
Earlier in the day, police had said the suspects were hole up in Omanii’s Lemonade Heaven, one of three commercial businesses on the front of the South Avenue building.
Fowler declined to identify the suspects, or even say how many people had been taken into custody. Fowler also would not say how suspects had surrendered.
The standoff came about after a mail carrier flagged down a police officer to report a robbery on South Avenue around 11:30 a.m. The officer, who has not yet been publicly identified, chased after suspects and was shot at, according to police.
The officer was unhurt and returned fire, Fowler said.
Police quickly limited access to the area, crisscrossing streets with yellow crime-scene tape. Police with shotguns took up positions near the building, behind trees or around corners of nearby buildings. Nearby businesses, including an entire shopping plaza, were taped off.
The county’s black armored personnel carrier, called a Bearcat, frequently drove slowly by the building.
Neighbors quickly gathered around the yellow tape, watching to see what would happen.
Several reported they had heard the gun shots earlier in the day. Yvette Jones said she heard four shots. Altwanda Haygood-El lives two blocks from the building and said she heard eight shots. The shots were so loud she thought it came from her children playing video games in her home. She was about to tell them to turn down the volume when she heard police sirens and knew it was something else.
Jill Evans and Annetta and Richard Vulcano spent anxious hours as the standoff dragged on. Evans’ 8-year-old son, Jacier Oliver, was in an apartment next to the restaurant being watched by the Vulcanos’ daughter, Angela Murphy. Murphy was also watching her own 5-year-old daughter, Adrianna Murphy.
Evans and Vulcano stood on the sidewalk on Onondaga Avenue, looking down West Bissell Street where police had earlier brought out people from other apartments. They had been in contact, by cell phone, with Angela Murphy. She said the children were lying side by side in the bath tub. The three of them had taken refuge in the bathroom when they first heard shots and had stayed there, without food, keeping quiet for fear who ever shot at police might shoot at them.
Shortly before 5 p.m. an unmarked police car rolled up West Bissell Street and out came Jacier and the Murphys. Adrianna Murphy was scooped up by Richard Vulcano who held her tightly as she talked excitedly about “bad men” and the police searching up and down the stairs for the bad men. “I don’t want to get shot by a bad guy,” she told the Vulcanos.
View Police standoff on South Ave. in a larger map
Jacier clung tightly to a friend of his mothers, saying nothing. His mother said she was “thankful.”
Angela Murphy said she stood over the children while they were in the tub, “waiting for somebody to come get us.”
Minutes after the children were reunited with the families, police seemed to step up their response, several times they loudly called on whoever was inside to come out with their hands up. The black Bearcat reappeared, driving up to the building.
Soon after that the Bearcat rolled away from the building with officers in black combat gear visible on its sides.
At 6 p.m. Fowler announced the building was secure and no one was injured. “We have a number of people we have yet to interview,” Fowler said.
Fowler thanked other police agencies that assisted as well as neighbors.
While the suspects were headed for questioning by police, the children who had been holed up in the bathtub all day were finally going to eat.
A family friend said Jacier would be getting a Happy Meal.
Richard Vulcano said Adrianna wanted spaghetti. “And you know what she’s going to get?” he said. “Spaghetti.”
Late Tuesday night, Omanii Abdullah, owner of Omanii’s Lemonade Heaven said police had not yet let him back in his restaurant. Once he got back in, he said, he would be able to figure when he would be able to reopen.
Previous coverage
» Armed standoff on South Avenue ends without violence; Mother, 2 children released unharmed
» SWAT, officers work to get bystanders out of building where man with gun is holing up
Contact John Mariani at jmariani@syracuse.com and Charles McChesney at cmcchesney@syracue.com.
