Over the last two weeks, police were receiving reports that the man has been having mental health issues and was not seeking help, said Franklin Police Chief Russell Whitman.
“Family, friends, neighbors have all tried to help to him,” he said. “He’s not wanting any help. Won’t let anyone in, won’t come out.”
The police department has been working with mental health professionals in an attempt to help the man get treatment. Crisis counselors have gone to the house on multiple occasions to speak to him.
“They would talk through a window if he would come to a window,” Whitman said. “We made several attempts to talk to him, but not every time we were able to talk to him. When he does, he wouldn’t let himself come out.”
On Thursday the man reportedly made a threat against a neighbor.
“When he made an actual threat we can’t sit by any longer,” the chief said. “We have to take some action.”
A tactical response team went out to Beam Drive to talk to the man. Neither police nor trained negotiators has success while talking to the man, so police fired gas canisters into the house Friday morning.
“That plan worked and he was able to jump out a window,” Whitman said.
The chief stressed that the man’s mental and physical health is the priority at this time.
“That was not our goal, to put him in jail,” he said. “The whole goal, that’s why we put the team together, is to get him the mental help he needs, because he obviously was not going to do it himself.”
Fire crews on scene did a safety sweep of the house after the man exited. Whitman said no weapons were brought to his attention.
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