MANKATO — A 25-year-old Mankato man turned himself into police after officers spent about three hours attempting to persuade him to come out of a house he wasn't in.
Police were called at about 4:15 a.m. Friday after the man, later identified as Jordon Allen VanRyswyk, allegedly threatened three women while holding a shotgun.
The caller reported VanRyswyk was outside his residence at 117 Grove St. when he allegedly made the threats while holding the gun to his side.
The house happens to be across the street from where 23-year-old Richard Vosburgh was shot by a police officer he was attacking in 2007. The officer was responding to a report that he had broken into a neighbor's apartment and was threatening women inside.
The women from Friday's incident told officers that they knew VanRyswyk and that he had gone back inside his house.
Josh Kruger, who lives across the street, said he woke up before 5 a.m. to find about six squad cars in front of his residence and a spotlight on VanRyswyk's house. The officers also were using a loud speaker, at about 10-minute intervals, to surrender.
"It was just weird," Kruger said. "I hadn't seen the guy in awhile, so I assumed he had moved."
It was about two hours after the initial call when the River Valley Tactical Response Team arrived, Kruger said. They brought several men in fatigues and armed with high-powered rifles to the neighborhood, along with their armored vehicle.
"It was quite the scene to say the least," Kruger said.
The tactical team eventually swept through the house and came out empty handed, Kruger said. He wasn't sure at about 10 a.m. Friday if they had arrested the suspect.
Actually, though, VanRyswyk had been in custody for a few hours. He had walked up to the perimeter that had been set up around his house by Mankato police and the tactical response team and turned himself in. He was arrested without incident.
"He was not in the house when officers arrived," said Cmdr. Pam Hermanson of the Mankato Department of Public Safety. "We thought he was inside, but he wasn't. He would have exited the residence sometime between (the women) leaving and us arriving."
She said there are several factors officers consider before calling the tactical team in. Generally, she said, it's for safety reasons.
After seeing how the situation turned out, Kruger wondered if his neighborhood had been disrupted more than it had to be. He and his fiancee didn't get much sleep and his roommates were late for work because their cars were blocked in by police, he said. "I'm not saying what he did wasn't a big deal, but with all that hoopla. . ."
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