Man barricades self in house with dead mother
EUGENE, Ore. -- A more than three-hour long standoff ended peacefully on Wednesday afternoon in Eugene's University neigbhorhood.
According to the Eugene Police Department, a 62-year-old armed man barricaded himself in his house with the body of his recently deceased mother and threatened to kill himself and police.
Kathy Tiger said she's lived across the street from the man for more than 30 years.
"He has lived there for quite a long time and taken care of her," Tiger said. "He's been her primary caretaker."
According to Tiger, the man had been very worried about his mom's ailing health.
"He's been saying for a while, 'When my mom dies, my life is over,'" Tiger said.
Tiger told KVAL News the woman was in her eighties.
"She basically wanted to die at home and was pretty adamant about that," Tiger said.
Eugene police spokesperson Melinda Kletzok said the woman died Wednesday morning and the man was distraught over her death.
According to police, his mother's body was still inside during the standoff. Police surrounded his house, closing off Columbia and Agate from 25th to 26th and evacuated neighbors.
A SWAT team showed up along with the fire department and a crisis negotiation team who tried to to talk the man out of the house. Police said the man walked out of his house more than three hours later and no use of force was used.
But Kathy Tiger said the pain is still there.
"I wanted to just go tell him, things are going to be okay," said Tiger.
The man was taken to the hospital on a non-criminal mental hold. To be clear, KVAL News chose not to identify him because he has not been charged with a crime.
