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Standoff Ends Peacefully After Man Tells Story To TV News Crew (http://pasco.tbo.com/pasco/MGB7DJNE1HE.html)

By CHRISTIAN M. WADE cwade@tampatrib.com

Published: Dec 10, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - Jeff Mohr wanted someone to listen.

So after more than two hours of keeping heavily armed police at bay outside his apartment, the 42-year-old called Bay News 9 saying he wanted to tell his story.

He would surrender, but only if a reporter interviewed him.

And only if police promised to toss his wet laundry in the dryer.

Holed up inside High Points Apartments, Mohr told New Port Richey police he was distraught because his girlfriend recently left him, and he was going to shoot himself.

Several neighbors told police they once saw a cache of weapons in his apartment - AK-47s, hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols and armor-piercing bullets.

Officers and SWAT team members, dressed in black and brandishing automatic weapons, cordoned off Mohr's building with yellow tape and evacuated neighbors from two nearby buildings in the complex.

Negotiators were talking with Mohr on the telephone, trying to resolve the standoff.

Then the TV news crew arrived.

"All of a sudden our negotiator lost contact with him," Police Chief Martin Rickus said. "Turns out he'd hung up the phone and called the news station."

Police said Mohr offered to surrender if he could tell his story to Bay News 9 Pasco reporter Michelle Kay in front of a camera.

Rickus said the negotiator agreed with Mohr's demands to resolve the standoff.

"Our job is to get the guy out without anyone getting hurt," the chief said. "In the days of suicide by cop, we can't take any chances in a volatile standoff situation."

The interview segment, taped with police officers standing nearby, never aired.

"There was nothing that he said that was particularly newsworthy," Bay News 9 news director Mike Gautreau said. "He just stated his position to our reporter and explained to her why he was doing what he was doing. Then the police led him away in handcuffs."

Gautreau said the station had no intention of airing the segment but agreed to Mohr's demands to help police resolve the situation peacefully.

"We didn't show up at the request of police," he said. "We were already there covering the event and he apparently saw us. We're glad that we could play a role."

After being interviewed outside the complex, Mohr was taken into custody without incident and driven to a hospital for psychiatric observation.

Police also acted on Mohr's other request: "We changed his laundry for him," Rickus said.

On Friday, Mohr remained hospitalized involuntarily under the state's Baker Act. Police continued to investigate the incident and no charges had been brought against Mohr.

A search of the apartment by police and SWAT teams after the standoff turned up a few small rounds of ammunition but no weapons, according to police reports.

"The bottom line is that it ended peacefully and nobody got hurt," Rickus said.