SWAT Standoff in Salem UPDATE

Police also had K9 units on the scene.

Salem Police SWAT unit rolling up to the scene. Photo and video by Jerry Freeman

(SALEM, Ore.) - UPDATE:

Salem police released the names of four people arrested after a SWAT investigation Thursday.

Two men were arrested in connection with a sexual assault of a minor girl that happened at the apartments, police said.

Arrested were 32-year old Eric John Howe on charges of rape, using a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct, encouraging child sexual abuse and compelling prostitution.

23-year old Jesse James Skinner, on charges of rape, using a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct, compelling prostitution and sodomy.

28-year old Dustin Phares on charges of trespassing, interfering with a police officer, giving false information to a police officer and a warrant for a parole violation

47-year old Timothy Mark Kneeland, on a parole violation warrant.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are possible.

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ORIGINAL REPORT:

The Salem Police SWAT (Strategic Weapons and Tactics) team had their hands full today as officers tried for hours to convince two individuals to come out of a residence in an apartment building located near Liberty and Salem Parkway.

It happened at an apartment complex near Liberty and Gaines

Salem Police Lt. Dave Okada says a search warrant was served at 11:30 a.m. and three people complied initially, or relatively soon.

"However, we believed there were two more individuals who were inside refusing to cooperate," he said.

Okada says officers went to a lot of effort to ensure that those inside the home were well aware that the police were outside.

"We called out SWAT!, they used a very loud public address system to ensure everyone inside could hear."

Okada says negotiators also used a telephone to try to reach the remaining two individuals.

"We even threw them a phone in case they didn't have one." Okada says this is something that officers often do if they are unsure suspects have a working phone. He says after being given a phone the two did not utilize it.

"Then we used a Flashbang and they still didn't comply."

Then, Okada says officers deployed 'less than lethal' baton rounds but those didn't work either.

"The next thing we did was use C gas but they still didn't comply."

However, he says the two individuals inside the residence finally were located by SWAT members and they were taken into custody.

Okada says there was not a lot more in terms of information that he could release at the time of this report. When asked if the warrants the officers were serving were for a major crime or something more minor and routine, he replied, "Obviously SWAT was there because it was a non-normal situation." He says more information should be released by tomorrow morning.

I asked Okada if this was a more unusual situation with the suspects apparently able to withstand quite a bit, re: gas and baton rounds and the Flashbang grenade.

"It was pretty unusual," Okada said.

"One thing we want people to understand is that when we are on a scene like this, we want to be absolutely certain that those we are trying to reach know we are there. That's why we use speakers, lights and sirens, and everything possible to communicate with them."

Okada says it was more involved than some, but cited a SWAT response last year in West Salem which involved large amounts of gas being delivered into the home where the suspect was holed up.

In that case, Okada said that the guy had a window open and the draft was drawing the gas outside, allowing him to sustain what appeared to be large amounts of nasty CS gas, which is tear gas.

KPTV News reports that nearby Grant Elementary School was not put into lockdown, students were kept inside and away from windows as a precautionary measure.

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

Jerry Freeman is part of a new generation of dedicated news photographers who are entering the Internet news industry as a second career. He shares in common with many people the dream of becoming a visual journalist. Joining the Navy at an early age, and the Oregon Army Guard a few years later, Jerry has a wide range of life experiences. He describes himself as “an old truck driver with a new found passion to bare witness on the world’s events.” Teaming up with Salem-News.com he embarks on a new career as a video news photographer and reporter. Stay tuned, and see how it turns out. Jerry seems to exhibit natural talent and is already becoming a published member of the Salem-News.com team. You can send Jerry Freeman an email at this address: Salem-News@gravityshadow.com