Shooter barricaded in Nanuet home surrenders after 5-hour standoff

NANUET — A tense five-hour standoff came to a close Thursday night but not before a man barricaded inside his home with a rifle fired at police and vowed to shoot his way out.

Francis Bifulco, 26, of 16 Ludvigh Road dropped his weapon and surrendered after hours of negotiations. Police had fired dozens of pepper spray canisters into his home, said Sgt. Glenn Cummings of the Clarkstown police.

Clarkstown officers with shotguns began to surround the single-family home about 4:15 p.m. after a family member told police that Bifulco had said he was depressed, had a weapon and would attempt to use it to take his own life, Cummings said.

Ludvigh Road was closed for hours as the Clarkstown SWAT team, a state police K-9 unit, the Rockland medical examiner and EMS and paramedic staff jammed the area between Carmen Drive and Pigeon Hill Road.

Later, camouflaged Clarkstown officers wearing helmets and other protective gear also converged on the scene and took strategic positions around the outside perimeter of the house.

Cummings said officers had communicated with Bifulco through cell-phone calls and texts during the standoff. As a police spotlight shined on the home about 7 p.m., a negotiator speaking through a bullhorn urged Bifulco to come out willfully.

At 7:17 p.m., police began firing pepper spray canisters into the residence to force Bifulco out. Police continued to fire multiple rounds of five or six canisters at a time for more than an hour, beginning to use heavier canisters just before 8:30 p.m.

Police had been unable to visually confirm that Bifulco was actually armed until 8:35 p.m., when he fired a single shot in the direction of police approaching the front of the house.

No one was hit by the shot, likely from a .22-caliber rifle.

Ten minutes later, officers could be heard saying Bifulco told the negotiator that he intended to shoot his way out of the home.

Officers continued to negotiate an end to the situation and continued to pepper spray the home until about 9:25 p.m., when Bifulco emerged while speaking to a police negotiator on a cell phone, Cummings said.

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"At this point he'll be evaluated medically. That's the first priority before anything else is done," Cummings said moments after the surrender. "Then we'll take it from there in terms of whether other actions will be necessary."

Bifulco was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, Sgt. Harry Baumann said today, adding there would be other charges. Bifulco is being examined today at the county mental health clinic in Pomona.

Ludvigh Road is a busy street lined with mainly older, single-family homes that connects Route 304 and Middletown Road. It is heavily traveled — particularly in the morning and afternoon by students from Clarkstown South High School and residents commuting to work.

Police gave residents in the immediate area the option to evacuate, but most chose simply to stay inside their homes. Some residents who live nearest Bifulco's residence were barred from returning home during the incident.

Still, a steady stream of passers-by stopped their cars throughout the standoff to inquire about the police presence. Residents from adjacent streets gathered to watch in small groups near where officers had used road flares and police vehicles to barricade the roadway.

Most said they were not familiar with the residents in 16 Ludvigh Road, but those who did know the family said they were pleasant people and fine neighbors.

Before Bifulco was identified by police, Kurt Reinhardt of 15 Buckingham Road — just a half-mile drive from the standoff — said he was familiar with the barricaded man he knew as Frank.

"I know who he is, yeah, but he's normal," Reinhardt said. "There's nothing wrong with him that I know of."

Cummings said Bifulco, who is believed to live in the home with at least his mother, has had run-ins with Clarkstown police in the past, but did not elaborate. What drove him to such lengths Thursday was not yet clear.

Bifulco was taken to Nyack Hospital Thursday night for physical and psychological evaluation.

Cummings said no officers were injured during the standoff.