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Last updated on Wednesday, November 7, 2018
(WEST BADEN SPRINGS) - A police standoff ended Tuesday with a French Lick man taking his own life.
At approximately 6 p.m. Monday the Orange County Sheriff's Department was called by Destiny Mitchell, the homeowner of 10090 West County Road 160 North, in West Baden Springs, to report that she believed 34-year-old Angel L. Pagan could be in her home.
She had earlier reported that Pagan had threatened to kill her as the result of a domestic dispute and was afraid to return home by herself with her two-year-old child.
Orange County Sheriff's deputies and West Baden Springs Police officers went to the home and entered with a key provided by Mitchell.
Officers discovered before entering the home that Pagan was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant for resisting law enforcement.
When they entered the home officers found Pagan and asked him to surrender and that is when he pulled a handgun and retreated into a bedroom and locked the door.
The officers did not immediately confront Pagan, opting to leave the home and establish a perimeter and summon additional assistance.
Within the following hour, additional members of the Orange County Sheriff's Department and members of the Indiana State Police, ISP SWAT team members and state police Hostage Crisis Negotiators arrived and spoke with Pagan through the evening and early morning hours trying to encourage him to peacefully surrender.
As Tuesday morning drew near, Springs Valley School officials were notified to arrange for an alternate school bus route to assure safe transportation of children that lived in the area.
Negotiations continued throughout the day.
Pagan made efforts to obstruct the view into the home by placing a mattress in front of a window. Despite this, Orange County Sheriff Josh Babcock offered to move to a place of personal jeopardy to speak with Pagan and implore him to surrender.
When it became apparent Sheriff Babcock was not going to be successful in convincing Pagan to surrender, members of the state police SWAT team removed the door from the opposite side of the home, making entry tactically safer for law enforcement.
Officers believed when Pagan heard the door being removed he retreated toward the back of the house and officers heard one gunshot.
Troopers then quickly entered the home and found Pagan incapacitated with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. Officers began rendering first-aid.
Paramedics from the ambulance, along with a state police officer, and medical personnel from an Air Evacuation helicopter that had been summoned to the scene worked for more than 30 minutes to try and stabilize Pagan while he was in the ambulance. Despite everyone's efforts, Pagan was pronounced dead at the scene.
Orange County Coroner Aaron Kemple arrived and preliminarily ruled Pagan's death as a self-inflicted single gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy has been scheduled for today.
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