SWAT standoff at Pocatello apartment complex ends with suspect's surrender

POCATELLO — The Police Department's SWAT team and armored vehicle were deployed Wednesday evening for a standoff at an apartment complex near Idaho State University that ended with the suspect's surrender.

Cameron Gettings Prusse, 44, of Pocatello, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault following the incident, which began to unfold around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The incident occurred at the apartments on the 1100 block of South Fourth Avenue near East Humbolt Street when Prusse threatened two other individuals with a gun, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.

The individuals that Prusse threatened told responding officers that Prusse had been causing issues with them for quite some time, including harassing and threatening them as well as destroying some of their property, police said.

During a verbal altercation on Wednesday, Prusse threatened to physically harm them while holding what the individuals described as a black pistol with a silver handle, according to the report.

Police determined the threat level for the incident was high and deployed its SWAT team along with crisis negotiators, though upon their arrival Prusse barricaded himself in an apartment and refused to come out, authorities said.

South Fourth and East Humbolt were temporarily shut down as police communicated with Prusse, who was alone in the apartment. He eventually surrendered without further incident around 9:30 p.m.

Police later obtained a search warrant for the apartment Prusse had barricaded himself inside and did not locate a weapon, though they did find a magazine to a pistol that was loaded with 9mm ammunition, police said.

There were no injuries or evacuations during the incident, which remains under investigation by Pocatello police.

Prusse was charged, arrested and booked inside the Bannock County Jail in Pocatello.

He appeared in front of 6th District Magistrate Judge Todd Garbett for an arraignment hearing on Thursday, during which his bond was set at $20,000.

He is due back in court on Aug. 28 for a preliminary hearing that will involve local prosecutors attempting to prove there is enough evidence against him to elevate the case from the magistrate to district court level for trial.

If convicted of the two felony counts of aggravated assault, Prusse faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Prosecutors will also seek an enhancement against Prusse for his alleged use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony crime, which could extend any prison sentence levied against him by up to 15 years.