Man who threatened to kill himself, brandishing a gun in his Meraux home and refusing to come out for officers, taken into custody without incident after 4-hour standoff

A St. Bernard Parish man who threatened to kill himself Thursday night after pointing a gun at his wife earlier that day – brandishing a gun in his Meraux home and refusing to come out for sheriff’s deputies – was taken into custody without incident after a four-hour standoff, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Emmerson Peden, 38, was arrested in his home at 4504 E. Genie St., in the Lexington Place subdivision, about 10:45 p.m. after sheriff’s SWAT team members made entry into the home.

The sheriff said there were no hostages in the home during the 4-hour standoff that started after 6 p.m.

Peden, who was being taken to a medical facility to be examined, was expected to be booked afterward at the St. Bernard Parish Prison with aggravated assault with a gun for threatening to kill his wife with a gun much earlier in the day.

The sheriff said Peden, distraught over unspecified problems, held the gun on his wife, whose name wasn’t released, early Thursday morning and two young children were in the home at that time.

But Sheriff Pohlmann said the suspect eventually went to sleep, then later awoke and left the home Thursday morning, at which time the wife and children also left the residence and she reported the incident to the Sheriff’s Office.

Officers went to the home Thursday but Peden wasn’t there. Later in the afternoon the man called the wife and sheriff’s deputies again went to the house about 6 p.m.

Peden was home but he said he had a gun and wasn’t coming out, the sheriff said.

The SWAT team was called out and officers tried to negotiate with him for hours. When he no longer answered his phone for a long period, SWAT team members employed a tactical entry into the home and Peden was found on a bed, with a gun on his chest but he was uninjured, the sheriff said.

Peden was taken into custody without incident.