WAUKESHA, WI — Quick thinking allowed Waukesha police to save the life of a man who was suffering from self-inflicted knife wounds Thursday night at the Springdale Apartments, officials said.

According to Waukesha Police Department call logs, officers responded to the Springdale Apartments just after 10:30 p.m. on May 28 on a report of a person who was inflicting self-harm and in serious danger. Waukesha police told Patch that uniformed officers received a call from a family member stating that a 31-year-old man was making suicidal statements and had posted pictures online of several deep cuts to his arms and wrists.

When officers arrived, police were able to locate the man in the basement of the Springdale apartments, and attempted to check his well-being. Police told Patch that he barricaded himself inside a basement storage locker, and indicated to officers that he cut himself with a knife, and had a gun with him.

According to police, the man told officers that they were going to have to shoot him. Police evacuated the first floor of the apartment and called for a bus to temporarily house displaced residents, call logs indicated. Waukesha police told Patch that officers spent more than an hour negotiating with him until he stated he had cut his arms, writs, and throat and was going to bleed out in 30 minutes.

Officers sensed the urgency of the getting the man help, and ended up using a type of crowd-control gas in an attempt to have the man exit the storage locker on his own.

Police told Patch that the gas worked, and the man exited the storage unit, where he was taken into protective custody.