Confrontation leads to 6-hour standoff

FT. WALTON BEACH, Fla. (WALA) - A Fort Walton Beach man is in jail on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm after a late-night confrontation with a neighbor.

Fort Walton Beach Police took John David Llewellyn, age 48, into custody after a six-hour standoff.

The Fort Walton Beach Police Department Tactical Response Team was activated a few minutes after midnight when Llewellyn went into his house and locked the door.

As an official watched through a glass door, Llewellyn retrieved a handgun from the waistband behind his back, removed the magazine from the gun, and placed the loaded magazine on his kitchen counter.

At one point during the standoff, while talking to police negotiators, Llewellyn stated he had a 90-day supply of food and would not be coming out of his house.

The standoff ended a few minutes before 6 a.m. Tuesday, February 21, when the Tactical Response Team fired a gas canister into the home. Llewellyn came out and was taken into custody.

The incident began when Llewellyn called the Fort Walton Beach Police Department. He said his neighbor across the street was acting strangely, and that he had taken a gun with him when he went to investigate. He sid he wanted to report the activity because his car had been burglarized recently, but he did not want an officer to respond to his location.

At the scene, Llewellyn met an official in the front yard. He said his neighbor across the street was acting strangely by having his car parked by the side of the road with the engine running late at night, and that he had confronted his neighbor while holding a gun.

The neighbor stated he was turning on the water for his garden hose to fill his car’s radiator when Llewellyn approached him from across the street, yelling obscenities and brandishing a handgun. He claimed Llewellyn came within 15 feet with the gun leveled at him, before retreating back across the street.

A Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic handgun was recovered from inside Llewellyn’s residence after the incident. Officers checking the house confirmed nobody else was inside during the standoff.