Gary Youngblood Junior, 37, died Monday night after he was shot twice by police following a seven-hour standoff.
The episode began after US Marshals through the county office attempted to serve Youngblood an arrest warrant for multiple drug-related parole violations. Due to the violations, he was likely going back to prison.
His location had been under surveillance. Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson said this was supposed to be routine warrant service.
“… something that we do every single day,” Robinson said. “However, at noon, when the deputies stepped out to begin their arrest, Mr. Youngblood spotted them and then produced the handgun at the back window and threatened the responding deputies.”
This was when the situation escalated into a standoff. The Sheriff’s Office called for an armored response unit, and nearby residents were urged to evacuate.
Police formed a perimeter around the property at 222 East Missouri Street.
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office and the Evansville Police Department negotiated unsuccessfully with Youngblood, to get him to exit the home peacefully, said Robinson.
“We wanted to give them every opportunity to surrender before we took actions that might increase the risk of someone getting hurt. But it was his decision to display a firearm and pointed it at law enforcement that resulted in this outcome.”
The Sheriff’s Office, Evansville Police, State Police and US Marshals were on scene.
“At one point Mr. Youngblood yelled from the residence, that he was ‘not going to go back to prison,’ and that he was ‘not going to be taken alive,’” said Robinson. “I'm paraphrasing there.”
Police also used non-lethal chemical munitions and even water cannons to force him to exit, when negotiations broke down after several hours.
At one point, Youngblood made a hole through the wall of the house, and was partially out, likely to get air. Police offered him a ladder to use to escape, but he rejected it.
Youngblood was shot after he exited the home through a window onto the roof of the covered porch, still brandishing his weapon.
Once he was shot, police learned that his weapon was actually an airsoft gun, said Evansville Police Department Sergeant Anna Gray, displaying a photograph of the gun on a large monitor.
“But as you can tell — to me, probably to anybody — that looks like a real gun.”
Airsoft guns are non-lethal, usually shooting plastic pellets.
She said police were told that Youngblood had a real handgun inside, so they believed the gun he held was genuine.
There were no other injuries, and the police and liaison services are working with former residents of that home to find a new place to live.
The officers involved with the incident were given three days off, per department policy.