CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis revealed a bizarre detail of a Jan. 4 standoff between police and a man who barricaded himself in a residence on the 1500 block of Trailridge Rd.

Kochis said the man was carrying a sword, the second sword-involved incident in the area in the past four months.

“It was a big sword,” Kochis told Cville Right Now. “He had it on his back.”

Kochis said police were called to respond to a “domestic situation” at the address, and found a group of people who knew the suspect outside of the residence. The suspect was alone inside the building. What followed was a more than two-and-a-half hour standoff between the suspect and police, with officers at the door to the residence, negotiating with the suspect.

CPD has not released the suspect’s name or the charges he is facing.

Kochis shared more information about the situation during an appearance on WINA Morning News earlier this week.

“A person had barricaded themself in a residence with a sword on their back,” Kochis said. “We have time, because there was nobody else in the house. We also can’t let them leave that house. We can’t just walk away from something like that, because they have a sword. They’ve made comments that, we believe, if they were able to go out and hurt the public, we’d have to answer for that, if we let that happen. So, it is a delicate situation.”

Kochis praised the work of the officers who helped resolve the situation peacefully.

“We had two young officers who were negotiating with that individual at the front door for some time and were able to get him to agree to put the sword down, step back, talk him through it and then get him the help, assistance he needed,” Kochis said. “It’s something we train for regularly. … When those situations happen, their training just kicks in and we go to work.”

In October, a Culpeper man defended his home in the 1900 block of Edwards Shop Rd. by brandishing a sword at an intruder, who was wielding a pipe, according to the Culpeper Sheriffs Department.

“Thankfully this ended peacefully with very little injuries,” Culpeper sheriff T.W. Chilton said in a statement at the time. “It started with a pipe and a sword. That’s wild on its own. This could have easily been deadly.”
The suspect in that case, Jesse Harris, has been charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony while armed with a deadly weapon, abduction by force, threats to kill over an airway and four counts of destruction of property.