Police officer arrested after all-night standoff near Newport caused 'shelter in place' order

Show Caption Hide Caption Police activity in Bellemoor community, closes Conrad school Police are disclosing few details about an incident Friday that closed Conrad Schools of Science and led to one person being taken into custody. 11/16/18

A Wilmington police firearms instructor was arrested Friday morning after an all-night standoff at a Newport-area home, prompting a neighborhood-wide lockdown.

Master Cpl. Michael Ballard was taken into custody at about 9 a.m. Friday and police said he was charged with six felonies, including reckless endangerment, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited.

Last month, a Delaware Family Court judge signed a protection from abuse order against Ballard, meaning he is legally barred "from purchasing, possessing, owning, or controlling a deadly weapon."

After his arrest on Friday, investigators found evidence that a gun had been fired from Ballard's home on Essex Avenue, near Boxwood Road, "in the direction of neighboring houses."

Three months ago, police responded to a similar situation at the same house, according to neighbors.

At the time, police said that a subject had barricaded himself within the home for about four hours, armed with multiple guns, according to police.

New Castle County police spokeswoman Heather Carter said then that officers' heavy response, which included closing surrounding roads, was necessary to resolve the situation "safely."

Wilmington police confirmed Friday evening that Ballard is a 14-year veteran of the department. He had previously been placed on administrative leave, but Friday's charges pushed his status to suspension without pay.

According to a LinkedIn account, Ballard is a certified police and firearms instructor for the Wilmington Police Department. It also states that he is a "SWAT entry team member (submachine gun)."

Protection from abuse order documents state that Ballard also possessed "multiple personal handguns and police-issued firearms."

"These were taken by police when he was hospitalized in August," the document states.

A New Castle County police press release confirmed Ballard as the suspect in Friday's incident, though it did not mention that he is in law enforcement.

'Shelter in place'

By Friday morning, police had disclosed few details about what had been a roughly 10-hour incident that had woken neighbors before dawn with phone calls telling them to "shelter in place."

At around 8 a.m., Boxwood Road near the Conrad Schools of Science was closed.

Sitting on the street were what appeared to be a bomb-diffusing robot and an armored vehicle equipped with a large spotlight.

A police drone hovered above.

Responders had been at the scene since about 11 the previous night, New Castle County police spokesman Michel Eckerd said. The robot, drone and armored vehicle were present in order "to err on the side of caution," he said.

While there was no "immediate threat" to neighbors, Eckerd said, "we had to block off certain intersections in the area just to help to safeguard the community."

Asked if the all-night incident was a standoff, Eckerd said, "No, it's still just a police activity."

Eckerd declined to say whether police were familiar with the man before Thursday night.

Three residents who live nearby each said that there had been a police standoff at the same location in August.

One was Shannon Ryan, who was awoken at about 3:45 a.m. Thursday to "a violent banging" on her door.

"It startled me and I live alone and I was terrified, so I called 911 and said, 'Please, come help me," she said. "Lo and behold, it was the (Delaware) State Police, and (they said) 'there was this situation going on.' "

State police then used a bedroom in Ryan's home to organize their response to the incident, Ryan said. They had arrived in an unmarked pickup truck, she said.

Ryan said she doesn't know the man who was involved.

Asked whether there had been a previous standoff at the same house, Eckerd said, "that's part of the investigation that I can't get into right now."

On Aug. 10, Carter told The News Journal that officers had responded to a house on Essex Avenue to check on the welfare of an individual.

Asked then if the person was a police officer, Carter said, "We don't release personal information regarding persons in crisis."

"The individual has access to firearms which requires a response like this so the situation can be resolved safely," she said in a text message at the time.

Throughout the incident Friday, police used nearby Conrad Schools of Science as a staging area for the investigation. At about 6 a.m., authorities called parents and told them not to send their kids to school.

The school was closed because of its proximity to the incident and because its parking lot was in use by police, Eckerd said.

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Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.

Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856 or jhpeterson@delawareonline.com. Follow her @jopeterson93.