A 19-year-old Marine due to head to Iraq in a few weeks, has threatened to shoot himself with a rifle he is holding, as he paces in a Loveland cul-de-sac, authorities say. Two SWAT teams were poised to act if he threatened anyone else but so far the man has only said he wants to harm himself, Loveland Police Department Sgt. Rae Bontz said.
The 19-year-old was scheduled to fly back to Camp Pendleton in California today and was to head to Iraq in mid-September, sources said.
Police were called to the 3500 block of Granby Court at 5:09 a.m., Bontz said.
The Loveland police initiated reverse 911 calls to evacuate several homes in the neighborhood and to warn several other people to stay in their homes, he said.
Police officers were trying to coax the man into surrendering, Bontz said.
The negotiators gave him a phone so he could speak with them, he said.
The distraught man was walking on a sidewalk and in the middle of the cul-de-sac, he said.
Bontz said he does not know what type of assault rifle the Marine was carrying or even whether it was a military weapon.