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Pasco SWAT team talks man out of apartment

 
Published July 9, 2013

NEW PORT RICHEY — A SWAT team standoff ended without shots fired Tuesday morning after Pasco sheriff's deputies talked down a man holed up in an apartment, threatening suicide.

Deputies were first called at 4 a.m. after Matthew Foster, 44, shoved his girlfriend, Pasco Sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Snow said. They arrived to find Foster was the only one in Apartment 105 at 11738 Sweet Serenity Lane in the Ashton Oaks complex.

Foster refused to come out, Snow said. He threatened violence.

A SWAT team arrived at 7:45 a.m. and tried to cajole him out of the apartment. When a group of police dogs crowded the door, Foster set off fireworks that sounded like gunshots.

SWAT members were eventually able to talk him into opening the door around 10 a.m. He was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to be arrested, Snow said.