The Fargo Forum
Standoff ends peacefully
By Dave Olson and Dave Forster,The Forum
A six-hour standoff between a well-armed man and Fargo police ended peacefully just after 12:30 this morning.
There were no injuries.
David Tofte, 26, was alone at 5231 Amber Valley Parkway, Apt. 18, when police negotiators convinced him to surrender.
Authorities took Tofte to a Fargo hospital for observation after arresting him on suspicion of felony charges for terrorizing and reckless endangerment.
Police received a call reporting screaming and gunshots at Central Park Apartments at 6:16 p.m. Authorities evacuated neighbors, calling in negotiators and tactical team members in hopes of resolving the standoff.
Fargo Police Lt. Tod Dahle said it was unclear what prompted the incident and Tofte eventually came out of the apartment on his own. Police swept the apartment to find three guns, but it wasn't immediately clear what types of guns were inside.
A preliminary background check, although not extensive, revealed no previous criminal behavior or any similar types of incidents, Dahle said.
Fargo police negotiators and tactical team members joined efforts to resolve the standoff as the ordeal wore on hour by hour.
Loud gunfire blasts by a man standing on a second-story balcony punctuated a cold night. Roadblocks sealed off the neighborhood, forcing dozens of residents to park their cars and walk home.
By midnight, police had established phone contact with the man. At least twice the man told officers he would come out of apartment but didn't.
Officers arrived at the Central Park Apartment building after receiving a complaint of screaming and gunshots about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday.
The suspect periodically walked onto the balcony several times and fired shots into the air even as officers and neighbors watched from a distance.
The man fired rapid bursts of six to eight shots at a time. Dahle said the man likely fired off at least 50 shots by 8:35 p.m.
Police believe the man had at least one long gun and one hand gun.
"I heard plenty of shots," said a 22-year-old resident of the building. "At first it sounded like someone was pounding on my wall."
He fled the three-story apartment building about 7:10 p.m. and Fargo police told residents to either stay in their apartments or get out of the area.
"I'm supposed to be taking a test right now," said Matt Kraft, a North Dakota State University student. Kraft, 21, also escaped the building about the same time.
However, Kraft said he couldn't reach his car because it was in an area police wouldn't let him go to.
Thirteen neighbors stood along Amber Valley Court, a nearby cul-de-sac from the building police had surrounded.
The group crouched behind pickups and vans. Several people peered through binoculars from about 100 yards away to watch the apartment where the man had stepped onto the balcony to fire shots.
"It's probably kind of stupid standing here doing this, but I've never been to one of these before," said neighbor Tom Woollweever.
None of the neighbors in the group identified the man.
The neighbors stood casually and talked until the unidentified man again stepped onto the balcony. Someone from the group would yell, "Here he is," each time the man stepped outside.
The man fired shots several times from the balcony. Neighbors said it appeared the man was shooting into the air, except for the last time, when he appeared to aim at them.
"All you could see is the horn of the barrel, then everybody hit the ground," Woollweever said.
The last shots that could be heard from outside the building came about 7:40 p.m., sending onlookers to cover.
Readers can reach Forum reporters Dave Olson at (701) 241-5555 and Dave Forster at (701) 241-5538
The subject of this story trained me in for a security job I held last year. After a couple shifts we had a beer together, and I haven't seen him for about a year. He's a former Ranger who owned a couple guns, had a cc permit but only used it occasionally. Nice guy overrall, but not a big socialite. I shudder to think that the 8-round bursts coming off the balcony were from the 1911 Kimber Custom he told me about.
Standoff ends peacefully
By Dave Olson and Dave Forster,The Forum
A six-hour standoff between a well-armed man and Fargo police ended peacefully just after 12:30 this morning.
There were no injuries.
David Tofte, 26, was alone at 5231 Amber Valley Parkway, Apt. 18, when police negotiators convinced him to surrender.
Authorities took Tofte to a Fargo hospital for observation after arresting him on suspicion of felony charges for terrorizing and reckless endangerment.
Police received a call reporting screaming and gunshots at Central Park Apartments at 6:16 p.m. Authorities evacuated neighbors, calling in negotiators and tactical team members in hopes of resolving the standoff.
Fargo Police Lt. Tod Dahle said it was unclear what prompted the incident and Tofte eventually came out of the apartment on his own. Police swept the apartment to find three guns, but it wasn't immediately clear what types of guns were inside.
A preliminary background check, although not extensive, revealed no previous criminal behavior or any similar types of incidents, Dahle said.
Fargo police negotiators and tactical team members joined efforts to resolve the standoff as the ordeal wore on hour by hour.
Loud gunfire blasts by a man standing on a second-story balcony punctuated a cold night. Roadblocks sealed off the neighborhood, forcing dozens of residents to park their cars and walk home.
By midnight, police had established phone contact with the man. At least twice the man told officers he would come out of apartment but didn't.
Officers arrived at the Central Park Apartment building after receiving a complaint of screaming and gunshots about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday.
The suspect periodically walked onto the balcony several times and fired shots into the air even as officers and neighbors watched from a distance.
The man fired rapid bursts of six to eight shots at a time. Dahle said the man likely fired off at least 50 shots by 8:35 p.m.
Police believe the man had at least one long gun and one hand gun.
"I heard plenty of shots," said a 22-year-old resident of the building. "At first it sounded like someone was pounding on my wall."
He fled the three-story apartment building about 7:10 p.m. and Fargo police told residents to either stay in their apartments or get out of the area.
"I'm supposed to be taking a test right now," said Matt Kraft, a North Dakota State University student. Kraft, 21, also escaped the building about the same time.
However, Kraft said he couldn't reach his car because it was in an area police wouldn't let him go to.
Thirteen neighbors stood along Amber Valley Court, a nearby cul-de-sac from the building police had surrounded.
The group crouched behind pickups and vans. Several people peered through binoculars from about 100 yards away to watch the apartment where the man had stepped onto the balcony to fire shots.
"It's probably kind of stupid standing here doing this, but I've never been to one of these before," said neighbor Tom Woollweever.
None of the neighbors in the group identified the man.
The neighbors stood casually and talked until the unidentified man again stepped onto the balcony. Someone from the group would yell, "Here he is," each time the man stepped outside.
The man fired shots several times from the balcony. Neighbors said it appeared the man was shooting into the air, except for the last time, when he appeared to aim at them.
"All you could see is the horn of the barrel, then everybody hit the ground," Woollweever said.
The last shots that could be heard from outside the building came about 7:40 p.m., sending onlookers to cover.
Readers can reach Forum reporters Dave Olson at (701) 241-5555 and Dave Forster at (701) 241-5538
The subject of this story trained me in for a security job I held last year. After a couple shifts we had a beer together, and I haven't seen him for about a year. He's a former Ranger who owned a couple guns, had a cc permit but only used it occasionally. Nice guy overrall, but not a big socialite. I shudder to think that the 8-round bursts coming off the balcony were from the 1911 Kimber Custom he told me about.
It just gives the Ant-Firearm group more Ammo. to use against us.