Crime & Safety

Resident Arrested After Standoff With Police

Old Main Shore Road closed for more than an hour while police negotiated with suspect

A township man was arrested Monday night on charges of obstructing law enforcement after a standoff with police and a SWAT team, an official said.

Police responded to a call of a disturbance at 35 Old Main Shore Road at 9:30 p.m., said Lt. Patrick Shaffery of the Barnegat Township Police Department, and were informed by dispatchers that a resident there, Michael Blood, 53, was heard in the background making statements such as "death by cop" and "suicide by cop."

When they arrived at the house, officers saw Blood in the front doorway with a large knife in a sheath at his waistband, Shaffery said. They ordered him to leave the house with his hands in view, but Blood shut the door and refused to leave, Shaffery said.

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Blood was declared a barricaded suspect, and the Ocean County SWAT team and negotiators were called in to assist, and after Blood refused several opportunities to exit, the SWAT team entered the house at 12:29 p.m. and took Blood into custody without further incident, said Shaffery.

A section of Old Main Shore Road was closed to traffic for more than an hour during the incident, and was reopened shortly before 1 a.m., according to the police department.

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Blood was released to emergency room staff at Southern Ocean Medical Center pending a psychiatric evaluation, Shaffery said.


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