A Lenapah man is in a mental hospital after he allegedly made threats against a City of Lenapah waterworker Wednesday.
According to Nowata County Sheriff Jim Hallett, the incident began around "high noon" when a Lenapah city waterworker appoached a city water plant located across the street from a residence on the 400 block of Peoria Street only to be threatened with a gun and told to leave by resident of that home.
Hallett said 77-year-old Hubert Joe King, the resident who allegedly made the threats, after pointing the gun at the man and telling him to leave, placed a pad lock on the water facility's gate and posted a note making death threats against anybody who would try to break the lock.
The city worker upon fleeing the scene called the Nowata County Sheriff's Office which soon arrived to the scene to find King making threats, holding a gun and occasionally making obscene gestures to deputies around his house.
Hallett said King's "agitated state" and the fact he was armed and in the house with his wife concerned law enforcement officials.
"He made references a couple times that today was the big day, the end of the big day, so we were afraid he would kill himself and his wife," said Hallett. He said it was with this concern that the sheriff's office decided to call the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office to bring their SWAT team and negotiator.
He said Tulsa County arrived on scene at around 4 p.m. and at around 6:30 p.m. entered the residence and apprehended King.
"They did a diversion, broke three windows and shot him with rubber bullet," he said. Hallett said King was then brought to a hospital where he was evaluated and then transfered to a Wagoner mental facility where he is now being held.
