Meire Grove Standoff Suspect Charged

(KNSI) – A man who prompted a shelter in place order after a four hour standoff with police has been charged.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to an apartment in Meire Grove around 9:15 on Monday morning. A woman told police she and Anthony Joseph Vankirk had been arguing the day before, so she left to spend the night at a friend’s house. When she arrived home on Monday, she was locked out of her apartment. She eventually got Vankirk’s attention, but he wouldn’t let her in and threatened to ruin her belongings if she called the police.

The 42-year-old man from Melrose eventually let the woman inside. She says Vankirk started to be verbally aggressive, picked up a hatchet and started breaking things in the apartment. At one point, he grabbed her shoulders until they hurt and screamed in her face. She left the apartment and called 911.

According to the charging documents, when deputies arrived, they tried to call, text, and talk to Vankirk through a loudspeaker but he wouldn’t respond. Officers heard Vankirk yelling that he had a hostage and would burn the building down. He was also wanted on arson charges related to an incident in Albany in 2022.

Two nearby apartment complexes were evacuated, and neighbors were told to shelter in place. Around 1:00 p.m., a SWAT team broke through a barricaded door and arrested him.

Vankirk appeared in court on Wednesday and was charged with two felony counts of making threats of violence – reckless disregard risk and one misdemeanor count of domestic assault.

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