A Town of Lena man has been charged for his alleged involvement in a 10-hour standoff with Oconto County sheriff’s deputies on Sunday.
According to a press release, deputies responded to the 5600 block of Benser Lane at about 1:30 p.m. to check on Thomas Benser, 50, who was suspected of domestic crimes.
Deputies say they made contact and negotiated for hours, but the man barricaded himself and fired at law enforcement. At that point, the deputies say they called in the Brown County Emergency Response Unit and Brown-Outagamie County Bomb Squad for help. A sheriff’s spokesman says his office detoured Highway 141 between county highways M and B.
Law enforcement finally took Benser into custody just before midnight and took him for a medical evaluation.
Benser faces charges stemming from the alleged domestic abuse incident of attempted first degree intentional homicide, recklessly endangering safety, strangulation and suffocation, disorderly conduct and substantial battery. He also faces charges from the standoff with law enforcement of four counts of attempted first degree intentional homicide, four counts of recklessly endangering safety and failure to comply with an officer's attempt to take a person into custody.
