Barricaded situation passes 10-hour mark at Cloverdale

Police personnel grab riot gear, shields, rifles from their vehicles.

State Police SWAT vehicle arrives on the scene in Cloverdale about 4:15 p.m.

CLOVERDALE -- As the clock struck midnight and Thursday merged into Friday, a standoff situation in Cloverdale reached the 10-hour mark and entered its second day without resolution.

Nonetheless, authorities were still confident that the unidentified 33-year-old suspect who was barricaded inside the Appliance Guy store on Market Street, just off U.S. 231 in Cloverdale, would allow the situation to be defused peacefully.

The suspect was reportedly barricaded inside the business with his 31-year-old wife and two-week-old baby daughter.

"All he has to do is give up," Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts, public information officer at the Putnamville Post, told the Banner Graphic Thursday night. "We don't want to cause any harm.

"We're going to do what we have to do to make this a successful resolution," Watts added. "We're looking to protect the mother and infant."

The incident unfolded about 2 p.m. Thursday after Cloverdale Police Department and Putnam County Sheriff's Department officers were contacted by Department of Child Services (DCS) officials from Putnam County to investigate a reported child welfare case at an apartment within the Appliance Guy building near the intersection of Market Street and U.S. 231.

The suspect, the father of a two-week-old baby said to be at the center of the incident, reportedly became upset with investigators' concerns about the child, Sgt. Watts said earlier in the day.

The unidentified suspect reportedly brandished a weapon at the DCS investigator who had gone inside the apartment to investigate the child welfare concern as police officers remained outside. The DCS official reportedly backed out of the building without incident, helping put the situation on hold for at least the next 10 hours.

The mother, father and infant were all reportedly still inside the Cloverdale apartment as of midnight.

An ISP hostage negotiator had been talking to the father throughout the day, Sgt. Watts said, noting there had been "open communication" and things "so far are going well" during the early hours of negotiation characterized as "open dialogue."

Sgt. Watts reported that "no alarming trends" had developed and everything was proceeding peacefully throughout the evening.

State Police officials were called to the scene at the request of the Sheriff's Department, Watts noted, since ISP could offer a SWAT team and hostage negotiator at the ready.

Meanwhile, Operation Life, Cloverdale Fire Department, Putnam County Sheriff's Department, Cloverdale Police Department and ISP SWAT team personnel have been standing by at the scene throughout the day.