GREENFIELD — It was a lesson in patience and hard-core persuasion for Hancock County law enforcement officials during the weekend when they had to call out their Joint Tactical SWAT team.
Officials used nearly every tool in the book, including tear gas, robots, a drone, and more to get a barricaded man out of a pole barn.
Jacobi Cavaletto, 36, 200 block of Jaycie Phelps Road, Greenfield, kept officers at bay for 14 hours before they were able to get him out of the barn, which is on his family’s property, and into custody around 1:48 a.m. Sunday morning.
“We’ve had some events that have taken this long before and others that have gotten resolved really quickly,” said Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
Cavaletto was out of jail on bond. He was arrested in late May on a felony and misdemeanor drug charges, according to Hancock County court records.
The incident started Saturday afternoon and ended without injury to officers or Cavaletto — even though shots were fired at one point from inside the barn. However, it took officials from nearly every law enforcement agency in the county, including the Joint Tactical SWAT team, along with assistance from officers from the Fishers and Lawrence Police Department SWAT teams, to finally resolve the standoff.
Police were called to the property around 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning after a report about a troubled, emotional person in need of assistance.
Upon arrival, authorities found Cavaletto was outside the pole barn, but he would not let police near him, a report said. Cavaletto quickly went into the barn, and the standoff began.
County SWAT officers were called to the scene around noon and began formulating a plan of extraction, Harris said.
Jaycie Phelps Road from U.S. 40 to the entrance of the nearby Keystone subdivision was closed to local traffic during the incident and was lined with emergency vehicles.
“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing with all the police cars,” Seth Blake, a neighbor, said.
Blake, who lives just north and west of the scene in the Keystone subdivision, watched events unfold through a spotting lens normally used for hunting. He said most neighbors were confused and curious about what was going on.
Around 1:39 p.m. deputies from the sheriff’s department identified themselves as they approached the barn in SWAT gear. They spoke to Cavaletto via a load speaker, asking him to come out with his hands up. When they got no response, they fired several rounds of tear gas into the structure.
After repeated attempts to get Cavaletto to come out, they fired a second salvo of tear gas around 2:23 p.m. When they were making an attempt to fire a third round of tear gas at 3 p.m., rapid shots from inside the barn rang out, prompting officers to take cover.
The shots were not fired by law enforcement officials, Harris said. Authorities were not certain Cavaletto fired directly at officers; they think the gunfire might have been warning shots telling officers to stay away.
Nearby neighbors, who had gathered to watch the scene from about 200 yards away, were asked to move out of sight after the gunfire.
Rebecca DePalma, Greenfield, was one of the local residents who had been keeping an eye on the event and said she became worried when she heard the loud blasts from the tear gas and the gunfire.
“I was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on because it’s always so quiet around here,” DePalma said.
As the standoff continued into the night, law enforcement reached out to Cavaletto numerous times. During this time, officials were able to confirm he was uninjured and that he did have firearms in the barn.
Cavaletto, who the report said was emotional at one point, told officials he was an innocent man and wanted them to leave.
The application of more tear gas and a flash-bang — a grenade that produces a bright flash and a loud noise to stun or disorient people without causing serious injury — finally got Cavalleto to exit the barn via a second-story window.
Once outside, he was quickly captured on the ground, Harris said.
Cavalleto was taken to Hancock Regional Hospital for an evaluation, but he will be facing multiple charges once officials confer with the Hancock County prosecutor’s office, Harris said.
