From staff reports

BRUSHY PRAIRIE — Police are on the hunt for a man who was at the center of a standoff Wednesday morning at a home on C.R. 1050E in rural LaGrange County.

The man, identified by police as Joshua A. Wilson, 47, allegedly used a high-powered rifle to threaten the life of another person.

The incident started at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.

LaGrange County Sheriff Tracy Harker said police were called to the residence about a mile west of the Prairie Heights Community Schools campus after receiving a report of a domestic dispute at a home.

Officers were familiar with the residence. Wilson was charged late last year with a single count of domestic violence and intimidation for making threats with a rifle, Harker added.

After the first police units arrived Wednesday, a woman in the residence was able to get out, police said. Wilson had reportedly threatened her at rifle point, police said.

Due to the threat of a rifle involved, numerous police units were called in to assist the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Office deputies and detectives in getting Wilson out of either a residence or an outbuilding. Those units included the Strategic Response Teams from the Auburn Police Department and Steuben County. One armored vehicle was brought in.

Police set up a command center outside the residence. In addition, backup units from numerous agencies were staged at the United Methodist Church parking lot at the intersection of C.R. 1050E and U.S. 20.

Harker said Wilson did not respond to phone calls placed to his cell phone or to requests to surrender made by police over a car’s loudspeaker.

Harker said he now believes Wilson managed to slip away undetected under the cover of darkness about the time police arrived. Harker added he decided to move slowly and carefully because of the recent police standoff and shooting in Kendallville. That April 12 incident drew a huge police response when a man started shooting at police from the balcony of a second-story apartment. He was later fatally shot by police. Many of the same police officers involved in that case were on the scene Wednesday in LaGrange.

Officers remained on the scene Wednesday until about 2:30 p.m. Wilson is now facing additional felony charges for Wednesday’s incident and standoff, Harker said.

Harker indicated that charges of Intimidation with a firearm, invasion of privacy, domestic battery and strangulation will be filed against Wilson. He asked that anyone with any information about Wilson and his whereabouts contact the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Office at 463-4791.

Wilson was arrested in November on a single charge of domestic battery and a charge of intimidation, a Level 5 felony, for using a rifle to threaten another person. He was arrested and taken to the LaGrange County Jail and later released on a $6,000 surety bond.

He was arrested again in late December on a criminal misdemeanor charge of invasion of privacy for violating a no contact order that had been issued by the court. He was released several days later after posing an additional $12,000 surety bond.