UNION, Ky. — A man is
One man was taken into custody and airlifted to the hospital after a SWAT standoff in Union Thursday afternoon, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said.
Major Philip Ridgell said deputies were first called to Saunders Lane in the Triple Crown subdivision just after noon Thursday for what was originally a welfare check. Within a few minutes, Ridgell said they were told shots were being fired from a home.
"From what was reported, there was a landscaping crew on Saunders doing work and they reported to our dispatch shots were fired," Ridgell said.
Boone County deputies responded to what Ridgell called a "active and chaotic scene." He said the man inside the home, who has not been identified, deliberately fired shots at law enforcement officials, who then fired back.
"He clearly intentionally shot at law enforcement, and they in turn returned fire," Ridgell said.
Watch our coverage of the SWAT situation here:
The man eventually barricaded himself inside a bathroom in the home for multiple hours, which led to a shelter-in-place order for the neighborhood. It was lifted just after 6:30 p.m.
Ridgell said the SWAT team deployed gas canisters, which led him to exit out of the window where he ultimately surrendered.
When officials took him into custody, Ridgell said they noticed the man had been shot in the chest. At this time, it is unclear whether the wound was self-inflicted or from deputies who fired their guns, but Ridgell said Kentucky State Police will be investigating it.
The man was airlifted to UC Medical Center, where Ridgell said his injuries are considered life-threatening. Ridgell said no one else was hurt during the standoff.
"It's quite honestly a miracle that nobody was hit," Ridgell said.
Payton Kenny was at work at the Triple Crown Country Club nearby when she said she heard two gunshots.
"Then I heard one of the lifeguards down there say, 'You guys need to clear everything — call the announcement thing, everyone needs to get into their cars or a safe place and leave.'"
Kenny said families were told to leave the pool area, where Kenny works, to find somewhere safe to shelter.
"Then all I heard was a whole bunch of little kids screaming and a whole bunch of parents leaving their stuff and grabbing their kids to leave, and then us people who worked in the snack bar, we kind of just locked everything up and kind of, like, hid in the corner," she said.
Ridgell said while KSP will investigate the shots fired between the suspect and deputies, Boone County will investigate the original shots fired report.
