Man jailed without bond after standoff in rural Essex

ESSEX, Mo. -- An episode that ended with a 61-year-old Essex man being jailed without bond began late Thursday when a neighbor reported the man was shooting outside his home.

About 10:10 p.m. Thursday, Stoddard County sheriff's deputies tried to talk to Ricky James Long. From inside his home off Route AB, Long reportedly yelled, "I'm not coming to the [expletive] door. Get the hell off my property."

The three deputies left the residence, went to the neighbor's home and informed him of what had transpired.

As the deputies were leaving, the neighbor, who had an ex parte order against Long, flagged them down and said Long was outside screaming expletives at him. The three deputies returned, drove into Long's driveway and used a spotlight to illuminate the home.

"I then observed Ricky [Long] standing in an open window on the north side of his residence and Ricky was yelling something I could not hear ..." deputy Cody Wilson wrote in a report. "As I was exiting my patrol vehicle, I observed Ricky had a black rifle in his hands. I then advised dispatch the subject had a gun, and as I was exiting my vehicle, I advised Ricky, 'Sheriff's office -- put the gun down.'"

At that command, Long reportedly began to lift the rifle and pointed it in the direction of the deputy. Wilson backed up his car, parked and using his unit as cover, moved to where he had last seen Long.

"By this time Ricky had closed the window and I could not see him anymore," Wilson said in his affidavit. Sheriff Carl Hefner was called. Hefner instructed his deputies to take cover until he could get there.

Hefner, with Bloomfield, Missouri, police and units from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, converged. Long and Hefner engaged in a verbal exchange for more than an hour, during which Long continually yelled from inside the residence, but refused to come to the door.

At one point during the standoff, police heard what sounded like a gunshot inside the home, followed shortly by Long calling out to police that he would "f---- shoot" them.

It was at that point, Wilson said, Hefner decided to leave the Long residence for the night.

Deputies returned to Long's house about 9 a.m. the next day and placed him under arrest. He is charged with second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer with a weapon and armed criminal action. Long is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.