Ronica Shannon
A Richmond woman is in police custody and undergoing a mental evaluation after allegedly chasing people in her neighborhood with a butcher knife and barricading herself in her home for almost five hours.
The Richmond Police Department’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) was dispatched Saturday at 2:30 p.m. to an apartment on the 400 block of Turpin Drive.
Police arrested Linda Webb, 48, just before 7 p.m. after they retrieved a key to her apartment from the apartment complex manager, said Sgt. Willard Reardon, public information officer for the Richmond Police Department.
She was taken Saturday evening to Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Hospital for the mental evaluation.
Webb could be facing charges of wanton endangerment, as well as various drug charges, depending on the outcome of the evaluation.
Upon arrival, ERU team negotiators worked to establish a line of communication with Webb, but she would not cooperate, Reardon said.
“She didn’t want to talk to us and wanted us to leave,” he said. “It came down to the point where we had to go in and take her.”
After gaining entry into the apartment, ERU team members used a distracting device that produces an extremely loud noise.
“It distracts the suspects and gives officers time to get in safely without them (the suspect) realizing what’s going on,” Reardon said.
Police found what they believed to be marijuana upon entering the apartment, he said.
No one else was in the apartment when Webb was taken into custody.
“She was by herself, but we don’t know the whole story yet,” he said. “We’re not aware of any harm she caused herself.”
No harm was done to anyone while Webb reportedly chased neighborhood residents with the butcher knife.
“The good thing about all this is that everybody came out safe,” Reardon said.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@
richmondregister.com or 624-6608.
