Standoff at Super 1 ends peacefully

A distraught woman with a handgun surrendered peacefully at the Super 1 Foods in Columbia Falls on March 19 following a four-hour standoff.

According to police chief Dave Perry, a Columbia Falls police officer located the woman’s silver SUV in the store parking lot following a report that a suicidal woman had left her home on Jensen Road.

Nine police officers and sheriff’s deputies eventually responded to the location, including a negotiator who managed to talk the woman into surrendering, Perry said.

Early in the incident, officers had spotted a handgun between her legs, and at one point she threatened to leave the vehicle with the gun pointed at her head while she removed spike strips placed in front of her tires. She also tried to drive away, but her SUV was blocked in by police vehicles.

The woman never threatened to harm anyone, Perry said, and business at the grocery store was able to continue.