St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Commander Tim Corbett said Friday night he did not know whether Brown’s injuries were life-threatening.
Police say they heard gunshots inside the home shortly after they arrived about 1 p.m. in response to a reported domestic dispute. Brown’s wife and children exited the house sometime later and police say they began trying to talk him out using cellphones and a bullhorn.
Police said Brown, who was a tri-captain of the Michigan football team in 1992, asked to talk to several friends during the standoff. Shortly before it ended, someone could be heard saying through the bullhorn: “Be a Michigan man today. Step up to your obligation.”
Several seconds later the person said: “Please don’t let me down. Please!”
Moments later a fire truck and ambulance rushed to the front of the house. The ambulance left moments later.
Police would not identify the person who had been talking to Brown.
Police said Brown’s wife, Melissa, had a bruise on her head when she left the house earlier in the day. Their children were not hurt.
Police could be heard urging Brown, 41, throughout the day to give up or to give them a call. “We’d appreciate it if you’d let us know you’re OK,” one officer said through the bullhorn.
Sgt. Matt Blank, a St. Joseph County police spokesman, said Brown came out of the house several times during the standoff only to go back inside.
“Just calm down and put your hands in the air,” a police officer said when he came out about 4:45 p.m. Several moments later, Brown could be spotted inside in a window closing the blinds.
Blank said no shots were fired by police during the standoff.
Officers blocked off entrances to the subdivision about 10 miles northwest of the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, and blocked access to the Brown home from about three houses away. Police at one point provided an escort as a family left their home next door.
Brown was drafted in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL draft out of the University of Michigan, where he was co-captain and all-Big Ten his senior year. Brown played eight seasons in the NFL as a defensive back with the Patriots, Jets and Detroit Lions, from 1993-2000.
Before coming to Notre Dame, Brown was an assistant with the New York Jets and at the University of Virginia.
He was Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator from 2007 to 2009. He was fired along with most of the rest of the staff when Charlie Weis was fired. He coached defensive backs with the New England Patriots last season but was not retained.
Source: ESPNChicago.com
Photo: Jacek Urbanczyk/Polish News