NORTHUMBERLAND - The Northumberland man who barricaded himself in his home for eight hours Saturday has been charged by borough police.
Steven Gulliver, 23, of 567 Priestly Ave., Apt. A, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of recklessly endangering another person, theft by unlawful taking and possession of a controlled substance before Senior District Judge Richard P. Cashman, of Sunbury. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bail with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 1.
After the standoff, police cleared the apartment, finding in the kitchen a shotgun with one round in the chamber, according to court documents filed by Northumberland Borough Police Chief Timothy Fink. Police also found orange nylon rope that secured both the front door and the rear patio door and a handwritten sign that said "No tresspassing, violators will be shot" on the back porch.
8-hour standoff
The man's wife, Autumn, told officers at the start of the incident that Gulliver had been admitted to Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg, for a medical issue, but asked to be transferred to another facility. The request was denied and he became angry, removed interveneous and stomach tubes and left the hospital.
After the couple returned home, Gulliver began making "no tresspassing" signs. Autumn said she left the apartment. Court documents report she told police that Gulliver was angry and not thinking right at the time, and she was concerned he might overdose. She said Gulliver's father tried to get his son to return to the hospital.
The last contact she said she had with her husband was at 5:55 p.m., when she told him his mother knew about his drug addiction and Gulliver told her not to come home that night.
Autumn told police her husband had been depressed lately and taking her pain medication due to an addiction. Recently, she told officers, he mentioned that if cops came to the home, he would barricade himself in the house with his guns - a shotgun and a 30-06 rifle with a scope he owned - and would commit suicide.
After unsuccessful attempts to contact Gulliver by phone during the standoff Saturday night, Fink requested assistance from Susquehanna Valley Strategic Emergency Response Team (SERT). Officers started evacuating homes on Priestly Avenue, and trailers were brought in to provide heat, water and food to residents.
Autumn relayed information from her husband, who was communicating with her via texts, to the police.
After police were unable to convince Gulliver to leave the home under his own power, Fink spoke to county District Attorney Tony Rosini, who agreed the situation warranted the use of oleoresin capsicum, or tear gas. At approximately 1:45 a.m., officers deployed tear gas into the apartment; Gulliver texted his wife saying he was coming out unarmed. Gulliver left the residence at 2:09 a.m. Sunday and was taken into custody.
Missing pain pills
In an interview with police Monday, Autumn told police Gulliver sometimes melted her pain medication, mostly Dilaudid, and injected it. She reported Monday two Dilaudid and three Percocet pills went missing sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
On Tuesday, she told police that Gulliver admitted to ingesting the pills.