The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Two people were being questioned this morning at the Emporia Police Department after an incident that caused residents to be evacuated from 822 Merchant St. earlier today.

“We have two people at our office right now who are being interviewed by investigators,” Police Chief Gary Smith said about 9:30 a.m. today.

Residents of The Linden apartment building were removed for their own safety around 8 a.m. while officers from the police department, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, including K-9 units and the EPD special response team worked to talk two people into surrendering.

The Emporia-Lyon County ambulance was staged in a parking lot about a block away, in case of medical emergency, and additional officers in EPD’s pickup truck — obtained at no cost through a drug seizure — waited in the alley behind the apartment.

“They negotiated them out without incident,” Smith said of the SRT’s effort. “The reality is it’s much better to resolve it this way than to have somebody get (hurt).”

The situation apparently arose as a result of an investigation that had begun with reports of crimes overnight.

“There were a couple of robberies that took place in residential settings last night or early this morning,” Smith said, “and officers figured out that it was not random, that they were connected.”

Smith said that early reports indicate the robberies may have been the result of people deciding “to take back what was theirs.”

“People were armed,” he said. “At this point we don’t know what they were armed with.”

Smith said that additional information is not available yet. The special response team was still being debriefed at press time.