"There's a man in the store with a shotgun:" 911 calls released in standoff at New Berlin pharmacy

NEW BERLIN (WITI) -- The 911 calls have been released in connection with Wednesday's standoff situation that occurred at a pharmacy in New Berlin.

911 Caller: "There's a man in the store with a shotgun."

The call came in around 4:30 Wednesday, July 9th. A New Berlin pharmacy employee details the danger.

911 Caller: "He came in when I came in, at four, and they wouldn't fill his prescription, so then he left, and he's been hanging around his car, and now, he just came in with a gun."

Pictures taken from the rear of the pharmacy show police moving in to a nearby parking lot during the one-and-a-half hour standoff -- as the 43-year-old suspect remained in the store, with company.

911 Caller: "The pharmacist is still in the store."

That pharmacist is Bob Steib, who says the suspect shared some information.

"He kinda told me some of the drugs that he's been taking, and he's definitely got mental issues. No doubt about it," Steib said.

Steib says the man eventually told him the weapon wasn't loaded -- handing it over to the pharmacist.

"He wasn't your typical -- trying to rob the place. He just was really frustrated, wanted to get his prescription filled. He actually gave me money for it, so it was just a weird situation that kinda went bad," Steib said.

But in the New Berlin strip mall during rush hour, New Berlin Police Captain Mike Glider says this incident could have been significantly worse.

"We were able to evacuate some of the buildings and then some that were a little bit more out of the line of fire --they were what we call 'shelter-in-place,' you know -- stay in and stay down, stay away from the windows, that type of thing," Captain Glider said.

Captain Glider says he's pleased the situation ended safely and without much of a mess.

"The worst thing that happened was that he discharged a fire extinguisher in the store. They had a little clean-up to do, but that was about it," Captain Glider said.

Captain Glider says the 43-year-old suspect is in police custody.

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