Paramedics load the suspect into an ambulance after he was shot following a daylong stand-off with Council Bluffs Police and U.S. Marshals at the demolition site of the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at East Kanesville Boulevard and Baughn Street on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The man was wanted on a felony warrant out of Sarpy County (Nebraska) for first-degree sexual assault. When police officers and deputy marshals reportedly tried to serve the warrant just before noon Friday, the man locked himself inside an excavator on the site.
Law enforcement officers pull the suspect out of an excavator after he was shot following a daylong stand-off with Council Bluffs Police and U.S. Marshals at the demolition site of the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at East Kanesville Boulevard and Baughn Street on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The man was wanted on a felony warrant out of Sarpy County (Nebraska) for first-degree sexual assault. When police officers and deputy marshals reportedly tried to serve the warrant just before noon Friday, the man locked himself inside the excavator on the site.
Council Bluffs Police and U.S. Marshals surround the suspect during stand-off at the demolition site of the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at East Kanesville Boulevard and Baughn Street on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The man was wanted on a felony warrant out of Sarpy County (Nebraska) for first-degree sexual assault. When police officers and deputy marshals reportedly tried to serve the warrant just before noon Friday, the man locked himself inside the excavator on the site.
Council Bluffs Police and U.S. Marshals surround the suspect during stand-off at the demolition site of the old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at East Kanesville Boulevard and Baughn Street on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The man was wanted on a felony warrant out of Sarpy County (Nebraska) for first-degree sexual assault. When police officers and deputy marshals reportedly tried to serve the warrant just before noon Friday, the man locked himself inside the excavator on the site.
Council Bluffs Police and deputies with the US Marshals are in a stand-off with a man who has reportedly barricaded himself inside the orange excavator at the old St. Patrick's Church demolition site Friday afternoon.
UPDATE 8:52 p.m.: A man who had a warrant for his arrest out of Sarpy County, Nebraska, suffered a gunshot wound Friday night following an an eight-hour stand-off with Council Bluffs police and deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service.
The man, whose name has not been released, was working in an excavator with a demolition crew hired to remove the remains of the old St. Patrick's Church on the corner of Baughn Street and Kanesville Boulevard, near the Lakin YMCA, Council Bluffs Police reported early Friday afternoon.
Just after 11 a.m., deputy marshals and members of area law enforcement agencies attempted to serve the warrant for the first-degree sexual assault of a child to the man as he worked at the site. The man, who reportedly had a firearm, refused to go with officers and barricaded himself in the excavator.
During the course of the stand-off, the man's boss and law enforcement negotiators tried to convince the man to surrender to officers peacefully.
Just before 7:40 p.m., a gunshot was fired and the man was injured. Officers removed him from the excavator and he was taken by a rescue unit to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha with what was believed to be in critical condition.
A section of East Kanesville was closed from South First Street to Frank Street for most of Friday. The area was reopened to traffic by 8:30 p.m.
— This story is developing.
Council Bluffs police officers and deputies with the U.S. Marshals are still on the scene of a stand-off with a man who has reportedly barricaded himself in an excavator at the corner of Baughn Street and East Kanesville Boulevard.
Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Cory Woodward said the man in the excavator -- who's name was not released -- was working with the demolition crew that was hired to take down the old St. Patrick's Church next to the Lakin YMCA. The man is wanted on a felony warrant out of Sarpy County (Nebraska) for first-degree sexual assault. When police officers and deputy marshals reportedly tried to serve the warrant just before noon today, the man locked himself inside the excavator.
While it was originally believed that he was unarmed, officials have now said that the man does have a firearm inside the excavator. Woodward said that man's boss reportedly tried unsuccessfully to talk the man out of the excavator earlier today and since then, police negotiators have been attempting to communicate with the man.
A woman who drove up to the scene told officers she was the man's aunt and asked that she be allowed to talk with him.
A section of East Kanesville is closed from South First Street to Frank Street. A detour route for traffic has been established on East Broadway, police said. The public is urged to avoid the area.
