Man found dead at east Louisville home after 22-hour SWAT standoff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man was found dead inside an east Louisville home that was the scene of a SWAT standoff for 22 hours, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Flames broke out Friday afternoon at the home in the 5000 block of Oakbrook Drive, near the Kentucky Truck Plant where Louisville Metro Police's SWAT team had been trying to negotiate with a "barricaded subject" inside with other people.

In a news release Friday evening, an LMPD spokeswoman said two children were "safely removed" from the home hours before the man was found dead. An autopsy is underway to determine his cause of death.

Anchorage Middletown Fire Department interim chief Kevin Groody said firefighters found heavy fire on the first floor of the home when they arrived on scene. They were also told there was one person inside that was "potentially armed."

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control within 10 minutes.

The standoff started around 6 p.m. Thursday, when police were called to the home, which is about three miles northwest of the Kentucky Truck Plant, on a report of a domestic situation.

Some neighbors were escorted from the area as a precaution just before 11:30 Thursday night. Police have not released any additional information about the subject.

Some neighbors had no idea what was going on outside their homes.

"I was really just speechless, I couldn't believe what was happening," said Aveena Parker, who lives nearby. "I called my parents and said 'Mom and Dad, look outside,' because nobody really knew they were out there.... It was bomb squad, SWAT -- I was trying to think of what could be happening."

The fire and death remain under investigation by LMPD's Public Integrity Unit and the Louisville Metro Arson Unit.