Distraught Man Surrenders After Trailer Park Standoff

Police evacuated a section of the Meadowbrook Terrace Mobile Home Park at 55 Sugar Street on Wednesday night, after a male resident there was threatening to commit suicide with a rifle.

There were no injuries or shots fired during the incident, which was reported to police at 9:15 pm.

Police said that after learning of the problem, they went to the trailer park where they saw Don Ferenz, a resident of Trailer #61, displaying a rifle. Mr Ferenz’s age was not immediately available. Police described him as middle-aged.

Police said Mr Ferenz told them that he was going to kill himself with the rifle.

After about 90 minutes, Mr Ferenz surrendered to police and walked out of the trailer without the rifle, police said. Mr Ferenz had been inside the trailer by himself, police said.

About 12 police responded to the scene, including four state police whom town police had called in for help.

Newtown Police Captain Joe Rios described Mr Ferenz as “distraught for personal reasons.”

Because there was the potential for gunfire, police decided to evacuate a section of the trailer park. Trailer #61 is at the rear of the densely developed area. The incident was contained at the rear of the trailer park, he said.  

Police set up security perimeters at the site and took cover in the event there was any gunfire, Capt Rios said. Police were prepared to use less-than-lethal force in the unpredictable situation, he said.

Police Lieutenant James Mooney established contact with Mr Ferenz via a cellular telephone and talked to him, seeking to convince him that he should surrender to police, Capt Rios said.

Eventually, Mr Ferenz agreed to surrender and walked out of the trailer without the rifle, Capt Rios said. 

The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported Mr Ferenz to the crisis intervention center at Danbury Hospital, the captain said.

The incident is under investigation and there is the potential for criminal charges being filed against Mr Ferenz, Capt Rios said.

“We did everything we could do to defuse the situation, to calm him down…The officers that were there handled themselves very well. They used good judgment,” he said.

 “That’s a successful outcome. No one was hurt…Getting him to come out [of the trailer] unarmed was our goal, so no one would get hurt,” Capt Rios said.

 “We were very pleased that this was resolved in a peaceful manner,” he said.

The tense situation held the potential for injury to residents of the trailer park, to police, and to Mr Ferenz, the captain said.