SWAT Uses Christmas Song To End 9-Hour Standoff with Armed Man
A SWAT team member ended a long night of negotiating with a man in Pennsylvania who had barricaded himself in his home on Christmas by singing him a Christmas carol.
Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said SWAT operators left their families on Christmas night after being called to a man’s home around 9 p.m. local time to respond to an armed barricade.
The team was forced to negotiate with the man for roughly nine hours while he shot at police and around the neighborhood, according to a post on Hogan’s Facebook page.
But at around 6 a.m. Wednesday, the standoff concluded after a SWAT negotiator convinced the man, later identified as Nathaniel Lewis, a member of the National Guard, to surrender by singing him “White Christmas.”
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Hogan wrote.
“I brought Christmas cookies for some cold and tired SWAT team members,” Hogan detailed.
“This being SWAT, they ate the cookies, made fun of each other, and went home to their families, quietly satisfied with a job well done.”
Lewis’ family went to his home to check on him after they were unable to contact him, authorities told local news.
When his wife’s sister arrived at the home, Lewis had barricaded the front door and fired multiple shots from his rifle.
Lewis threatened to kill police and shot at them from the second floor of his home, hitting nearby cars and houses.
He was later charged with aggravated assault, multiple counts of attempted homicide and other related counts.
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