SERT team aids in standoff with gunman

Six members of the Special Emergency Reaction Team based in Palmer flew to Savoonga Tuesday and helped defuse a standoff in which a man threatened to shoot himself and other residents of the village on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea.

Delbert Pungowiyi, 44, finally turned himself over to law enforcement officers Tuesday at 10 p.m. after being barricaded in his house for more than 24 hours. No one was injured during the tense situation that began when an Alaska State Trooper from Nome tried to serve an arrest warrant for Pungowiyi.

Trooper Christopher Jaime negotiated with the man for 20 hours Monday night and Tuesday. However, things started going downhill Tuesday afternoon, said Palmer police Sgt. Thomas Remaley, a SERT team member. Instead of threatening to kill only himself, Remaley said, Pungowiyi began saying he might go on a shooting spree.

"He had numerous firearms and was suicidal," Remaley said. "He talked about moseying through the village shooting other people."

That's when officials contacted the SERT team, which immediately flew to Savoonga in a state aircraft. Remaley said they got a break by bringing Pungowiyi's sister from Anchorage to talk with him.

"She was going to fly up there the next day but we were able to squeeze her into our plane," he said.

The fact that Pungowiyi was sober rather than intoxicated worried everyone, Remaley added.

"We took it more seriously because he hadn't been drinking. If they're really intoxicated maybe they don't know what they're saying."

The SERT team didn't communicate with the man. Instead, members placed themselves at key locations and kept guns ready in case he emerged from the house.

At 9:45 p.m., Pungowiyi said he would give himself up 15 minutes later. He came outside to let his dog pee precisely at 10 p.m., Remaley said, and put up no resistance when confronted.

"I was on a perimeter just outside his door with [trooper] Lt. Randy Hahn," Remaley said. "When he came out we got behind him so he couldn't run back in. He actually apologized to us for having us come out."

Other SERT team members on hand from the Palmer trooper detachment were Sgt. Steve Adams, Sgt. Mark Agnew, investigator Craig Allen and trooper Odean Hall.

After surrendering, Pungowiyi was taken to Nome and booked into Anvil Mountain Correctional Center on two felony counts of sexual assault in the first degree and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault. Meanwhile, officers breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm sure it wasn't cheap to fly us up there," Remaley said, "but because it was successful the money shouldn't matter."