Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: Officers detained a man at gunpoint after the sound of him smashing a TV was mistaken for a gunshot.
By Jon Johnson
GRAHAM COUNTY – A man going all “Office Space” on his TV ended with him being detained at gunpoint after a family member mistook the commotion for a gunshot.
Graham County Dispatch received a call from a woman at about 12:32 a.m. on Thursday saying that her son had possibly shot a gun in the residence.
Officers with the Safford and Thatcher Police Departments joined deputies with the Graham County Sheriff’s Office in forming an armed perimeter around the residence on Cactus Street.
The son was then ordered out of the residence at gunpoint. A protective sweep of the residence showed no evidence of any recent firearm activity. An elderly bed-ridden man also advised he hadn’t heard any gunshots that night.
The person who initiated the call was interviewed, and she said she was concerned that her son hadn’t been taking his medications and that he was yelling before she heard a loud bang she mistook for a possible gunshot. The bang the woman heard was apparently the sound of the suspect smashing his television set with a stick in the backyard.
When questioned, the man said he smashed his TV because it was his and he wanted to smash it.
The deputy later learned that the reporting party advised the TV was already broken and she had given it to the suspect to destroy.
Since the male was on house arrest he had to receive permission from his probation officer to leave for the night to separate the two parties from the domestic disturbance.
