A little over a month ago, I told you about a standoff that happened in a house on the corner of 9th Avenue and West Lamme Street. This past weekend, yet another standoff happened in the exact same house. But are these two incidents related?
You may recall on Sept. 25, a 12-hour standoff happened at the residence. According to court documents, 33-year-old Seth Ryan Gomez had gotten into a heated argument over parking and threatened neighbors with an AR-style rifle. When Bozeman police arrived, he barricaded himself in the house.
The Special Response Team and a SWAT team out of Helena were all called to the scene. They spent several hours using tactics to have Gomez surrender. Allegedly, tear gas was deployed, and Gomez was arrested, charged with four felony counts of assault with a weapon. But Gomez is no longer being held at the Gallatin County Detention Center.
WATCH PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Standoff eyewitnesses describe 'wild night' of police activity (Sept. 25, 2024)
On Saturday night, court documents state another standoff happened at the same house. But this time? It was 31-year-old Shawn Lee Steinmetz, who, according to court documents, was Gomez’s roommate.
Police reportedly responded to a disturbance call. Steinmetz had reportedly been hanging out with a 16-year-old girl, and they made plans to smoke marijuana. According to court documents, as the girl left Steinmetz’s home, he thought she stole marijuana and followed her down the street.
The girl then attempted to call 911, which is when, police say, Steinmetz attacked her. Pinning her against a car and waving a pistol around. Steinmetz returned home, and when police arrived, Steinmetz refused to leave. The Special Response Team was activated. After several hours and the use of flash bangs, police say Steinmetz surrendered and was taken into custody. He faced a judge Tuesday morning and his bail is set at $20,000.
I was curious if this is something Bozeman Police are seeing more often, so I spoke to Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp.
“I can think of times in the past when we’ve had a specific residence, or a specific group of people, that we end up responding to calls repeatedly to,” says Veltkamp.
9th and Lamme now making its way onto that list. But how often are these standoff situations happening?
“We’ve slowly seen the number of special response team callouts increase. We’re certainly seeing the types of crime change. We’re having crimes involving more violence and more felonies. And those are the types that, more often, end up as a special response team call out,” says Veltkamp.
Veltkamp tells me Bozeman Police appreciates the patience of the community as these types of calls increase. And with each call, they’re using every resource necessary to resolve situations peacefully.
