Armed with several high-powered rifles and a bullet-proof vest, an off-duty New Jersey police officer turned a quiet Pennsylvania street into a tense battlefield Sunday, injuring one officer during a 10-hour standoff that ended shortly before midnight.
Clifton police officer Richard Klementovich, 42, barricaded himself in the Doylestown home of his estranged wife and fired several rounds from a rifle at police hours before surrendering to a negotiator around 11:45 p.m. Sunday, according to Chief David Mettin of the Pennridge Regional Police Department.
Doylestown Township Police Chief Dean Logan said police spoke with Klementovich by phone throughout the ordeal, and he came out of the home of “his own free will.”
Klementovich was charged this morning with 13 counts of criminal attempted homicide and reckless endangerment, according to Logan. He was arraigned early today on dozens of charges including aggravated assault. Court records don’t list an attorney for him.
In addition to the weapons, the veteran officer and former soldier had a gas mask and other tactical gear, according to Mettin.
Klementovich was alone in the home, police said, but no motive for the tense standoff, which started around 2 p.m., was revealed. A negotiator from the Central Bucks County special response team was in contact with Klementovich for several hours, and eventually led him from the home.
The Clifton cop did not speak as he was led into the Doylestown Township Police complex early today. He was wearing a black T-shirt and appeared to have tattoos along the right side of his neck and face. Those markings do not appear in recent pictures Klementovich posted to his Facebook page.
The standoff forced neighbors to hide in their basements and, at several points, sent officers scurrying as Klementovich opened fire on police vehicles.
Doylestown Borough and Township police responded to the home on Bittersweet Drive in the township after a report of a dispute between two neighbors, Mettin said. It was unclear if a dispute ever took place or it was a ploy to draw police to the scene.
Soon after police arrived, Klementovich opened fire, disabling two police cruisers, Mettin said. Cpl. William Doucette was injured when shrapnel ricochetted off the curb and struck him in the face. He was taken to a hospital , where he was treated and released, Mettin said.
Police canvassed the neighborhood about a half hour after the first shots were fired, telling residents to seek safety at the township municipal building. Those who could not get out of their homes were told to stay in their basements.
Lydia Dibble, 51, was sitting on her deck on Windsor Road a few hundred yards away when she heard what she thought were fireworks, loud pops that cut through the air.
“And then I heard them again,” she said, “and I thought, ‘those are not fireworks.’â”
A police officer was soon outside her home asking her to leave.
Facebook Richard Klementovich is shown in this Facebook photo. Klementovich was barricaded in a Doylestown, Pa. home Sunday shooting at authorities from inside the home.Dan Boerner, who lives a few doors from where Klementovich was holed up, said his wife and two sons took cover in the basement, communicating with him via text message because police did not allow anyone back into the area.
Boerner said his son told him he heard 18 to 20 shots. “My wife is a wreck and my two sons are scared,” he said Sunday.
Rosann Marabella, who lives three homes from where the shooting took place and was camped out at the municipal building, said she did not think much of it when she first heard the shots.
There is a gun club nearby, she said, but then she heard rapid fire and screeching wheels. Police, wearing flak jackets, banged on her door and told her to leave.
None of the neighbors could say much about the alleged assailant. It is unclear if he ever lived there or if the home had been solely occupied by his estranged wife.
Clifton police Sgt. Robert Bracken said members of his department were on scene, trying to help authorities end the standoff. He declined to say anything else about Klementovich’s service or mental state.
Klementovich, an 18-year law enforcement veteran, earned $114,560 in 2011, according to state records. A U.S. Army veteran, Klementovich served during the Persian Gulf War in the 82nd Airborne Division, according to news clips from the 1990s.
Less than 24 hours before the shooting, Klementovich took to Facebook to post an album of nearly 40 photos from his time in the military.
In 1991, Klementovich was quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer story about the Gulf War as saying, “They don’t have a chance,” and “We’re going to do him in,” referring to Saddam Hussein.
On his mortar, Klementovich wrote “Saddam is going to die,” according to the paper.
