Man at centre of standoff calls CTV London newsroom

London police respond to a standoff on Madison Avenue in London, Ont. on Monday, April 27, 2015. (Gerry Dewan / CTV London)

CTV London web writer Amanda Taccone has been involved in a lot of news stories, but wasn’t expecting to become part of the story on Monday just after the noon hour.

With a tip line phone on her desk, Taccone usually answers it when nobody is at the assignment desk.

Around 1 p.m. she took a call from a man who said he had a tip. He proceeded to tell her he had a crossbow and that six police cruisers and a sheriff’s car were outside his home on Madison Avenue.

“He said he would use his crossbow if the police went in,” Taccone recalls. “I believed him. I said, ‘Nobody would want that.’”

Taccone says the man sounded really calm. “I don’t think he realized how things had progressed. I realized he didn’t understand he was already in a standoff.”

He told her he has PTSD and any police action, such as breaking down his door, could trigger him.

She says he seemed really angry at the police and had indicated that they had been persecuting him. He was given an eviction notice last week that he called illegal.

“He genuinely believes they have something against him.”

Taccone talked to him for about 10 minutes. “It felt like it went on forever.”

She says the conversation ended when she promised to send a reporter to the scene.

“He gave me his cell number, his home phone number. He had to check his home number because he didn’t know what it was.”

Police were also in contact with the man by phone.

After the conversation ended, Taccone went over to the assignment desk where the phone was ringing. It was London police media officer Ken Steeves.

Taccone talked to Steeves and he asked her for whatever information she had from the man.

“I provided him the notes I had taken during the conversation.”