Maryland: man allegedly tried to livestream siege with police at Warkworth St
A man’s attempts to livestream an alleged siege in which he had two women and two children inside was thwarted by fast-acting police. He has now been charged with a string of offences including firing at police with a paintball gun.
Newcastle
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Authorities have acted quickly to pull down a live social media stream of a man who allegedly shot two police officers with a paintball gun during a siege near Newcastle.
The suspect, who allegedly kept police at bay for nearly two hours with two women and two children inside the Maryland property, had uploaded the live stream on Facebook.
As negotiators and heavily armed police surrounded the property on Thursday morning, authorities were able to work quickly with the social media giant to take down the live stream.
It is understood the live stream was only online for a few minutes.
Officers were called to the Warkworth St house about 9.20am and were confronted by a man allegedly armed with a knife.
Inspector Shane Buggy said the man allegedly used a “paint pellet gun” to fire several pellets at two officers, striking both.
Both officers only received superficial injuries.
The man retreated back into the house where he live streamed the siege on Facebook before it was taken down.
Heavily-armed tactical response officers joined negotiators, detectives, general duties officers and the police bearcat as several blocks were cordoned off from the public.
He allegedly fired the gun, believed to be a gel blaster used in paintball duels, several times during the standoff.
Relatives of the man watched on from behind police tape.
Negotiators continued to speak with the suspect before he surrendered without incident after 11am.
He was taken to hospital for a mental health assessment.
The women and children were not injured.
Late on Thursday he was taken to Newcastle police station and charged with: Common assault (DV); destroy or damage property (DV); discharge firearm with intent to resist arrest; fire firearm manner likely injure persons/property, use unauthorised prohibited firearm, not keep firearm safely-prohibited firearm; armed with intent commit indictable offence; assault police officer in execution of duty cause actual bodily harm; and assault police officer in execution of duty without actual bodily harm.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said: “The NSW Police Force has developed strong relationships with various social media providers to allow for fast access to information and assistance in the event of an emergency.
“Any disclosure of information is at the discretion of the provider.”