WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Standoff ends after suspect kills himself

Standoff ends after suspect kills himself

By Lindsay English - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - After more than ten hours of negotiating, the standoff in the Highview neighborhood in South Louisville came to an end Friday night. Louisville Metro Police say 37-year-old Robert Datillo took his own life at the home on Whispering Hills Boulevard where he had barricaded himself since 10:30 a.m. Friday.

"LMPD deployed gas into the house at about that same time that the individual did apparently shoot himself," said Sgt. Robert Biven with LMPD.

Biven said there were no other weapons were fired at the time of incident about 8:45 p.m.

"I'm being told at this point officers did not employ their weapons, they did not discharge lethal or non-lethal rounds at this individual," said Biven. "We did deploy gas. We used some divisionary tactics. It was at that point the individual chose to take his own life."

According to police, after Datillo shot himself, the Metro Police Bomb Squad started sweeping the area to ensure there were no explosives after some were discovered Thursday night at the crime scene in Clarksville at the Motel 6.

Late Friday, police also continued to question three people who were also inside the house earlier in the day. All three turned themselves over to police over the course of the day. It is still unclear how they were connected to the situation or to Datillo himself.

The wounded officers - 39-year-old Cpl. Dan Lawhorn and 32-year-old Officer Keith Broady - remained at University Hospital in Louisville in serious but stable condition Friday evening.

Lawhorn, an 11-year veteran of the Jeffersonville Police, was shot in the leg; Broady, who has been on the force for 4-1/2 years veteran, was shot in the chest in an area that was unprotected by his body armor.

The two other men were arrested Friday afternoon but later released after police determined they were not involved in the shooting other than renting the room for Datillo. Jeffersonville Police Detective Todd Hollis says both men passed polygraph tests before they were released.

No officers or neighborhood residents were injured in the standoff.

Related Stories:

• Standoff continues in Highview
• Two shooting suspects released; third man barricaded in home
• Two arrested in Jeffersonville Police shooting; search continues for third man
• Wounded officers listed as 'serious but stable'
• Neighbor says motel where officers were shot is no stranger to crime
• Police may be closing in on shooting suspects
• Manhunt under way after two officers shot