Hostage crisis ends peacefully
Staff writer
A New Year’s Eve hostage crisis at Goessel ended peacefully but with one man in jail on suspicion of four felonies and in lieu of $150,000 bond.
David Matthew Impson, 41, 310 E. Commercial, Goessel, was booked into jail early Jan. 1 on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and reckless endangerment of a child.
Sheriff Rob Craft said a juvenile who had fled the residence called in the incident to dispatch at 8:45 p.m. The juvenile reported a weapon had been fired inside the home.
Deputies and police officers from Hillsboro and Peabody rushed to the scene. A Harvey County special response team, including a sniper and hostage negotiator, was summoned to assist also.
Harvey County officers set up a command post at Goessel High School and helped local officers maintain a perimeter around the scene.
Ambulances from Hillsboro, Marion, Tampa, and Florence either were dispatched to the high school or repositioned near Marion and Hillsboro during the incident.
Some of the six children who lived at the home had fled to a nearby residence and were relocated to the command post.
Craft said Impson’s wife and three or four children were inside the home when officers arrived.
Although emergency dispatches said repeatedly during the two-and-a-half-hour incident that Impson had a federal firearm license, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives spokesman John Ham said Impson once had a license but no longer did.
Marion County sheriff’s deputy David Harper-Head told dispatch at one point that Impson had opened a front door and, with a weapon in his hand, called out disparaging remarks to officers.
At another point, an officer called for a sharpshooter or a local volunteer to shoot out a streetlight with a .22-caliber rifle.
Craft said negotiators contacted Impson by phone and talked with him about 20 minutes before Impson agreed to come out and surrender.
About two minutes before Impson surrendered, a juvenile female exited the residence.
Craft said the children returned to the home into the care of Impson’s wife after he was arrested.