The man taken into custody Friday night after a lengthy standoff with police at a Bloomington hotel was not allowing his 87-year-old mother and a dog to leave, according to details from the Monroe County Sheriff.
Those details were not released to the public until more than 11 hours after the incident started and despite photos of a heavy police presence at the hotel circulating on social media for several hours in the afternoon and early evening.
Police said the situation started around 12:30 p.m. at the Homewood Suites hotel when officers tried to serve felony warrants on Samuel Baumgartner for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in Monroe County and Resisting Law Enforcement in Owen County.
At 7:19 p.m., more than an hour before Baumgartner surrendered outside the Homewood Suites hotel, police said, the mother and the dog were removed safely.
Around 8:30 p.m., a voice on a police loudspeaker said, "Put the gun down, come out through the door into the hallway." Several bangs followed. Police said they used "less-lethal devices."
Police said that Baumgartner exited at 8:32 p.m. The media release did not report any injuries. Deputies found a rifle and two boxes of ammunition in the long-term hotel room where Baumgartner had been living.
The suspect being cuffed pic.twitter.com/3gMPKjo5dU — Ethan Sandweiss (@the_real_sand) February 8, 2025
Earlier, a SWAT team and state and local police surrounded the building. There was a sniper on a roof of a nearby Honda dealership. Residents and staff at the hotel were evacuated.
The bearcat is pulled up to the window with the ladder. @WFIUWTIUNews pic.twitter.com/cUAHM1vEr7 — Ethan Sandweiss (@the_real_sand) February 8, 2025
Baumgartner was charged with Criminal Confinement with a Deadly Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon, and Resisting Law Enforcement using a Deadly Weapon -- all felonies. He was also charged with two misdemeanors.
Police said that when offers tries to serve the warrant initially, they heard noises but nobody answered. After obtaining a search warrant, they used a key to open the door, but it couldn't be fully opened because of a latch lock. An officer did, however, see Baumgartner with a gun.
Police called in the Criticial Incident Response Team. Meanwhile, officers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the Indiana State Police, and the Bloomington Police Department evacuated the hotel.
Around 6:20 p.m., an officer approached reporters and asked them to move to a different place because they just learned the suspect, a male, had a long gun within range of where they were standing.
