BOULDER, Colo. – A man who barricaded himself inside a Boulder home is in custody following a nearly three-hour standoff and is now facing assault and felony menacing charges, according to police.
Boulder police initially received a report of a hostage situation at around 9:15 p.m. Monday at a home near the intersection of Broadway and Iris Avenue. Officers were told the suspect, who was known to the victims, was armed with weapons.
Officers responding to the scene contacted the couple in the home and worked to rescue the victims. Police said during the rescue, however, that the suspect got into an altercation at the doorway of the front of the house, refused repeated commands from officers, and one officer fired his weapon.
No one was struck and the victims were able to escape through a window. The suspect then barricaded himself inside the home.
Officers received information that the suspects had explosives in the house and the Boulder regional SWAT team and the county’s bomb squad were called to the scene.
After nearly three hours, at around 12:37 a.m., the suspect surrendered to officers, police said.
UPDATE: Suspect in custody. Please continue to avoid the area while we process the scene. We will tweet when the intersection is back open pic.twitter.com/IJ8pMq4C2v
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) November 29, 2022
No explosives were ever found inside the home, but police did recover what investigators called “replica firearms and swords.”
Three dogs were also removed from the home and taken to the Boulder Humane Society. The dogs were not injured, police said.
The Boulder County Critical Incident Response Team has been activated to investigate why the officer fired his weapon. That officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy.
The suspect, identified Tuesday afternoon as 56-year-old John Lee Fleming, is facing three counts of second-degree assault, two felony counts of menacing, one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, and one misdemeanor count of obstructing a peace officer. He has since been booked into jail, and police said additional charges are possible.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Detective S. Byars at (303) 441-1970. You’re asked to reference case 22-11797.
