ARREST ENDS STANDOFF
Kingston resident jailed after 8-hour ordeal in house he apparently entered at random
A 65-year-old Kingston man who appeared to be armed with a gun was arrested after an eight-hour standoff with police at a home on Creek Side Drive in Shandaken, authorities said Monday. No injuries were reported. Thomas B. Sims was charged Sunday evening with the felonies of burglary, criminal mischief and menacing a police officer, as well as the misdemeanors of criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny and resisting arrest, according to the Shandaken Police Department and Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.
Sims was arraigned in Shandaken Town Court and then sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Sheriff’s Lt. Joseph Sciutto said no one was in the house when Sims broke in and that it appears the suspect had no prior connection to it or anyone who lives there.
To him, it “was a random stranger’s house,” Sciutto said Monday, adding he did not know why Sims was in Shandaken at the time.
Shandaken police said it appears Sims is “a transient” and, like Sciutto, said he was not known to the homeowner.
Shandaken police said they were notified around 9:45 a.m. Sunday about a bear possibly being inside a house on Creek Side Drive. Sciutto said neighbors initially suspected the intruder was a bear because the door of the house had been forced open, which is common in such invasions.
But while responding, officers were told there was no bear but that a man had broken into the home and was seen walking around inside it, authorities said.
And when officers arrived, they entered the house and found Sims, who appeared to be armed with a gun, on the second floor, the two agencies said.
They said Sims ignored commands from officers and barricaded himself in a room, refusing to come out.
Shandaken police then asked for assistance from the Ulster County Emergency Response Team and Ulster County Crisis Negotiator Team.
Those teams responded, and after an eight-hour standoff, members of the Emergency Response Team entered the house and took Sims into custody, according to information from the Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said a search of the residence turned up three rifles, though Sciutto said Monday that they appeared to belong to the homeowner. Authorities did not say if any weapon was found in Sims’ possession.