Man indicted for standoff at Butler Twp. Red Roof Inn

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A man has been indicted after he was accused of barricading himself in a Butler Twp. hotel room, leading to a standoff with SWAT earlier this month.

John Allen Prince, 62, of Wooster, was indicted Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court of two counts of inducing panic and one count of obstructing official business, all felonies, as well as one misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.

John Allen Prince. Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Jail

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Prince is currently in the Montgomery County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 24.

Prince is being charged for an incident Dec. 9, when Butler Twp. police were called to the Red Roof Inn at 7370 Miller Lane just after 10 a.m. Police said in a release that management called officers to trespass a man for making threats with a knife.

Police said they tried to contact the man in one of the hotel rooms, but he refused to open the door and threatened to shoot officers. After 45 minutes of trying to get the man to give himself up, the release said, officers requested the Montgomery County Regional SWAT and Hostage Negotiation Team to respond.

Crews negotiated with the man over “numerous phone calls” over several hours, the release said, but finally, SWAT “introduced copious amounts of tear gas to the motel room through the front windows.”

In an affidavit filed with Vandalia Municipal Court, police said that they also fired pepper balls into the room before breaching the door and shooting Prince with “less-lethal munitions.”

Police said they arrested him and took him to Miami Valley Hospital to be evaluated for the gas exposure.

Alcohol or drug use could have been a factor in the standoff, police said.

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