Syracuse Police continue the investigation into a standoff and shooting over the weekend that injured three officers. In a news conference Thursday, Police Chief Mark Rusin filled in many of the details from a Saturday morning shooting and standoff at the Pioneer Homes Public Housing Complex in Syracuse.
Rusin recalled hearing something over the police scanner that no police chief wants to hear.
"You hear 'officer down,' you shake, you shake, so it’s difficult," said Rusin.
It began after 6 a. m., with initial calls of an attack on a dog. That led police to get a search warrant at an apartment on Tyler Court. When police attempted to serve that warrant, at 9:36 a.m., the suspect, 55-year-old Rodney Vanderpool, fired a shotgun through the door, hitting two officers and injuring a third. Officers fired back. Vanderpool and officers exchanged more than 80 shots during the six-hour standoff. Police made multiple attempts to use social media, phone calls, and simply yelling through the door to reach Vanderpool, before he finally surrendered to police at 3:18 p.m.
Rusin said the initial decisions made by police on the scene, to push into the complex instead of backing off, set the tone.
"The decision making that those officers, all of them involved, doing different things, first aid, communicating, setting up an exterior perimeter, moving things back, it was incredibly impressive," Rusin said. "But in those first, really, five minutes, I think that the decision making that was made at that time saved lives."
Law Enforcement from state, federal and local levels descended on the scene to help evacuate residents in a densely populated public housing complex.
"We used the rook from the New York State Police, ladders, sometimes we had people coming out of windows and having someone protect them with a rifle or long gun, or the bearcat," Rusin said. "That’s why these resources were important from State Police, Madison county, Onondaga County. All those resources were needed to get people out."
Vanderpool faces three charges of attempted murder, along with attempted assault, aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal use of a firearm, menacing, and criminal possession of a weapon. He’s being held without bail.
In the wake of it all, Rusin said the whole police department is shaken up. Those injured are recovering, and eight officers are still off-duty, as part of the department's Officer Involved Shooting Protocol. There is peer counseling for officers involved as well as deeper mental health intervention for anyone who needs it.
Rusin said the community has been supportive of his department that now heals after what he called an incredibly complex and dangerous situation.
"Everybody in the Police Department is wrapping their arms around these folks to make sure they have what they need, and that includes their families," he said.
