A man suspected of shooting and wounding a police chief in New York's Orange County and barricading himself inside a home has been found dead, police said after a tense, hours-long standoff Tuesday.
Arnold "Butch" Amthor was among the law enforcement officers responding to a domestic disturbance call on Abbey Avenue in Maybrook around 9:20 a.m. when he was shot. Amthor, who is police chief in Maybrook part time and full-time chief in the neighboring town of Montgomery, is expected to be OK and is being treated at a hospital, his family by his side, authorities said.
Police were responding to reports of a domestic disturbance when Amthor was shot in Maybrook, a village of about 3,000 residents just west of Stewart International Airport.
Anthony Bostick, 28, was being interviewed by police moments before he and officers exchanged gunfire, police said.
Police surrounded the home for several hours. State police Maj. Joseph Tripodo said officers eventually went in and found Bostick dead and nobody else in the house.
State troopers and a police negotiator were on scene all day. Chopper 4 showed an extensive emergency presence, with more than a dozen law enforcement and emergency vehicles swarming the streets.
John Palmer, who lives on the street inundated by law enforcement, said he was sitting at home, drinking a cup of coffee, when police cars pulled up.
"All of a sudden you hear, 'Bang!'" Palmer said. "Within minutes the whole place was swarmed up with police cars everywhere. Within minutes 20 more cops came, swat team, helicopters are flying out everywhere and it was just a scene from a movie."
Maybrook Mayor Dennis Leay told NBC 4 New York he was just glad Amthor was OK. He said Amthor, a former police officer in Newburgh, has been chief in Maybrook since 2011.
"He's a highly qualified police chief and a damn good one," Leay said. "It's unusual to see a problem where there's a gun on sight in a small community like this so when there is the chief did come out in it and he came to assist."
