Bizarre series of events spurs police standoff in Racine

RACINE (WITI) -- A series of events on Saturday spurred a standoff lasting several hours in Racine.

Police swarmed the area near Russett Street and Victory Avenue Saturday afternoon, while neighbors looked on, trying to piece together the narrative of what caused the chaos.

"His dog proceeded to soil my grass and I asked him you are going to pick that up because I don't want that sitting on my grass," said Kim Polk, neighbor.

Kim Polk lives diagonal from the man at the center of this story. Polk says the man kicked the dog's mess next to a pile of leaves she was clearing, and then he threatened her family's dog saying:

"I'm going to shoot him with a bow and arrow," said Polk.

Polk told her husband about the exchange. When he walked over to talk with the man...

"He closed the door and came back to the door with a machete in his hand, a very long machete so at that time my husband backed up off the property and I had my daughter call the police," said Polk.

Polk says police spent hours trying to communicate with the man. Her family had to leave their property because of safety concerns.

"When he finally decided to come out of the house he was irate upset and was telling the cops to get off his property that he was going to harm them, he was going to shoot at the cops," said Polk.

Polk and others on scene tell FOX6 News that the man was taken into police custody. Police have not yet confirmed all of the details of this incident, but we are told the man's dog was shot dead during the standoff. FOX6 News is told the suspect had threatened to have the dog attack police.