Eight-hour standoff ends after tear-gassed man flees burning home

A weekend drama unfolded in San Bernardino involving armored vehicles, hot gas that set a house on fire and a suspected gunman who leaped out a window only to be bitten by a police dog.

It all began when neighbors called police shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday to say that 59-year-old Terry McKinny was shooting from inside his home at vehicles, including an ice cream truck. (Police haven’t yet confirmed the truck was hit.)

“He’s apparently been a problem” in the neighborhood, San Bernardino police Lt. Richard Lawhead told the L.A. Times.

When officers arrived, McKinny barricaded himself inside his home in the 700 block of West 19th Street, prompting a lengthy SWAT standoff.

Officers tried to reach McKinny by phone and loudspeaker, but got no response. So they used an armored vehicle to drop a cellphone outside his door. But as the vehicle approached, McKinny opened fire from a window, striking the vehicle multiple times, Lawhead said.

The standoff lasted eight hours as officers tried to force McKinny from the home. Several nearby homes were evacuated during the standoff, but no neighbors were injured.

At one point, police lobbed 20 rounds of tear gas from all sides of the house -- and were fired upon again in the process.

After that, a second armored vehicle from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department rammed the home, after which two rounds of hot gas ignited curtains, and soon the house was fully engulfed in flames, Lawhead said.

To escape the fire, McKinny jumped out of a back window, where he was taken down with the assistance of a police dog sometime after 11 p.m. It was not immediately clear if McKinny was seriously injured.

Lawhead said residents were allowed back into their homes around midnight.

“Neighbors out there are extremely happy” to have the situation resolved, he added.

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