SWAT Team Called After Men Fired Guns Off Deck of Springfield Home

Two men firing guns off a Springfield deck after a few beers led to an hours long standoff with police and the work of the Union County SWAT team Tuesday night.

According to Springfield Police Detective Judd Levenson, residents began calling police headquarters around 11:30 p.m to report hearing a series of gun shots or fireworks. Police headed to the area of Tooker Place and began to narrow the possible location. 

"There are only five homes on Tooker Place and so an officer began checking the area on foot," Levenson told Patch. "He saw a male subject on the back deck of one home and asked if he had heard anything. When that individual said he had not heard anything, the officer grew suspicious. He then noticed something reflective adjacent to the deck and found about 10 brass shell casings."

Levenson said when the officer went to ask the man about the casings, he ran into the house and closed and locked the door behind him. Levenson said after the man refused to open the door even after repeated knocking, officers then surrounded house and began using a loudspeaker system to demand the man and anyone else in the home come out.

"We could see lights going on and off and someone moving blinds, but no one was opening the door," said Levenson.

Levenson said Police Chief John Cook, who is also a member of the Union County SWAT team, arrived on the scene and requested assistance from the SWAT team. 

Before the team arrived, Levenson said a man approached the officers after hearing the loudspeaker system and identified himself as the father of the homeowner. That man then made repeated calls to his son, Timothy Penna, 42, and was finally able to convince him to come outside and speak with officers.

"At that point we found out that in addition to the male homeowner, there was also his wife and four-year-old son in the house," said Levenson. "But the homeowner was not the same man officers spoke to on the deck, so we knew there was at least another person in the house. The wife and son then came out, but the one individual still would not come out."

The SWAT team then took control of the scene, according to Levenson, and eventually entered the house to locate him and make sure he was not harmed or in a position to harm anyone else.

Levenson said he was located in the basement and the SWAT team had to use pepper spray gas in order to enter the basement. The man was a friend of the homeowner, Matthew McDarby, 44, of Martinsville, and was then taken into custody with no further resistance.

"Based upon follow up investigation conducted by the Springfield Police, we found that at the point in time prior to when residents started calling us another female at the house was being driven home by the wife, which left the two males in house," said Levenson. "They had been drinking beer and unbeknownst to his wife while she was gone, the homeowner, who has several legally purchased and registered handguns, had gone on to the back deck and used two of those handguns to begin shooting at various items including a hanging metal birdfeeder. Also, after those shots were fired, the friend had picked up one of the guns and it accidentally went off putting a hole in kitchen wall."

The entire ordeal took place over the course of several hours, ending around 4 a.m., said Levenson. Neighbors were instructed not to come outside and to go to areas of their homes that were not facing the house in question. Levenson said at no time were residents in jeopardy.

After consulting with the Union County Prosecutor's office, Springfield Police charged Penna with creating the risk of nuisance or widespread danger and disorderly conduct, and also issued him two summonses for the discharge of a firearm within Springfield Township limits.

McDarby was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of government processes. He was also issued a summons for discharge of a firearm within Springfield Township limits.

Both men were later released with an intial appearance in Springfield Municipal Court scheduled for Monday, April 22.