Police found themselves in a stalemate with a man carrying a sword in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia, NBC Philadelphia reports.
The police were alerted around 8 p.m. on Monday night by reports of a person on narcotics, who was carrying a sword. “They found a 42-year-old male sitting on the front steps of a property, he was armed with a sword with about a two-foot long blade, and he started swinging that sword at police,” Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said, per NBC.
Officers tased the unidentified man, though they found it had little result when the man went back inside the home, “still swinging his sword,” Small said. The police then declared a barricade situation.
The man attempted to urinate on the officers, while warning he’d slice off their heads, investigators shared, and that he cut his own neck with the sword at least twice. He also continually told the police he wanted to go to the hospital but declined to give up his sword. He then threw several items out of the window, aiming at the officers, including furniture, weights, speakers, a knife, a door, a large piece of glass, a weed whacker, water, and a pillow he had set on fire.
“The male appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol or a combination of both,” Small said, adding that the incident was “bizarre.”
Police finally captured the individual around midnight, who now faces mental evaluation. They have yet to reveal his identity.
