Barricaded, armed man captured after Clay Street standoff

A six-hour standoff ended Thursday night when police entered a home on Clay Street and used rubber bullets to subdue an armed wanted man.

Armando N. Gutierrez, 33, of Evansville, was wanted on a warrant out of Vanderburgh County for multiple charges the most serious of which was domestic battery involving a deadly weapon. Thursday, a U.S. Marshals task force determined Gutierrez was located at the 401 Clay Street residence in Jasper.

The task force reported to the home at about 4:45 p.m. to attempt to locate Gutierrez. They found him and six other individuals inside the home. During the encounter, officers observed drugs in plain sight and took the six individuals into custody for a preliminary charge involving visiting a common nuisance.

However, during the encounter, Gutierrez retreated to the basement into a crawlspace and would not come out. Members of the Marshalls Task Force called for the Indiana State Police for assistance. Indiana State Troopers, Jasper Police Department and the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department arrived and set up a security perimeter around the residence until members of the State Police SWAT team and Hostage Crisis Negotiations team arrived.

“It became a barricaded situation with no hostages,” Sgt. Philip Hensley, Indiana State Police Public Information Officer, said. “That allows us to take our time and look for any sort of peaceful solution we can get.”

Upon their arrival, negotiators began trying to speak with Gutierrez.

While speaking with Gutierrez, he fired a round from his firearm. Officers do not believe he was firing at officers.

At 10:50 p.m., SWAT team members were able to use less-lethal weapons to de-escalate the situation and safely take Gutierrez into custody. He was transported to Memorial Hospital for evaluation.

Investigators remained at the scene to collect additional evidence.

Gutierrez will be facing additional charges on top of the warrant for his arrest.

Members of the Jasper Volunteer Fire Department and Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services were on standby at the scene during the incident.

“A case like this where we are right here in the middle of Jasper, you have federal, state, county and city officers working for one purpose, to get him into custody without anyone else getting hurt—without any officers getting hurt, without any citizens getting hurt,” Hensley said. “We achieved all of those tonight.”