UPDATE: After a two-hour standoff, Appleton police arrested an armed man Thursday afternoon.
“Thank you for your patience as we safely resolved this incident,” the department said on Facebook.
PREVIOUSLY:
Negotiators are attempting to end a standoff with armed man / gunman on the roof of an St. Bernadette church in Appleton on the city’s east side.
Appleton police have a large presence at St. Bernadette Parish, 2331 E. Lourdes Drive, on Thursday morning.
Officers are “dealing with an active incident” near the 1200 block of S. Matthias Street, according to the Appleton Police Department on social media. They are advising people to avoid the area.
The neighborhood’s Johnston Elementary School and Appleton East High School were placed on locked down. The lockdown at East was lifted briefly before being reimposed around 11:40 a.m.
According Assistant Police Chief Polly Olson, the police received a call around 10:15 a.m. reporting a subject with a weapon inside the St. Bernadette building. At one point, the subject pointed a gun at someone inside the church before climbing to the roof.
According to police, the man went up to the roof and has been there for the past two hours. As police arrived, he fired some rounds into the air, but he has not fired the weapon since, WBAY reported.
