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Man charged with felony after weekend standoff in Hamilton
A 34-year-old man who held police at bay for nearly 20 hours in Hamilton over the weekend will appear on felony criminal endangerment charges in Ravalli County Justice Court on Tuesday.
Darren Taylor Walp was arrested about 6:30 a.m. Sunday following a standoff in which the man allegedly told police negotiators that he had a handgun and was going to force a confrontation with the officers, said Hamilton Police Chief Ryan Oster Monday.
Hamilton police first learned that Walp might have been in the area last Friday after Powell County law enforcement reported that his cellphone had “pinged a couple of times in the Hamilton area,” Oster said.
Powell County authorities apparently attempted to arrest Walp on Thursday on a warrant for charges of sexual intercourse without consent, but Oster said something apparently went wrong.
“They have resisting arrest charges pending on him,” he said.
Oster said he understood that Walp also had warrants out of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The Hamilton police posted a photograph of Walp on its Facebook page Friday. Someone called Saturday to report that a friend had spotted Walp at an apartment complex near the intersections of Providence Way and Fairgrounds Road.
Oster said they also received information that Walp was attempting to get a cab to go to Missoula. An officer called the local cab company and learned that someone had called from that address looking for a ride to the bus station in Missoula.
“Our officer talked with the cab people and they worked out a deal to allow one of our officers to drive the cab over to get him,” Oster said.
Walp had carried his belongings outside and was waiting for the cab, driven by a plainclothes officer, to arrive when something spooked him.
“I think he may have seen a patrol car,” Oster said. “That area is pretty open.”
Walp went back into the second-story apartment where he had been staying.
“The gal whose apartment it was came bolting out of there when he started barricading himself in,” Oster said. “He told that gal that he had a gun. She never saw it. He maintained he had a handgun all the way through.”
The police set up a perimeter around the apartment building and evacuated the people inside.
“We had him fairly well pinned in there,” Oster said. “We started talking to him on the phone shortly after it began.”
Three different negotiators kept talking through most of the standoff.
“They talked about whatever came up,” Oster said. “It didn’t matter what. They talked about everyone’s life history. Just whatever. They just kept talking.”
Oster said Walp told negotiators he was going to force a confrontation with the officers positioned outside.
“The negotiators did a fantastic job,” Oster said. “Our goal was to get him out of there without anyone getting hurt. We managed to do that.”
Walp did not have a gun when he surrendered about 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Hamilton police received support from the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office, Montana Highway Patrol and EMS. The Cornerstone Church opened its building to temporarily house people who had been evacuated. Highland Property Management opened its office and brought in food for officers on duty.
“Everybody did a great job,” Oster said. “We appreciated the support.”
