Santa Rosa Standoff

Florida Santa Rosa County A Santa Rosa county woman is behind bars after a four hour stand off.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Mon, October 06, 2008 - 5:00 pm CST

Patrol cars and an armored vehicle line the street around Esther Trimmer's home. It's not a surprise for neighbors who have been waiting for something to be done.
"There would be times when she would hang a sheet in front of the television screen because she'd think people were watching her through her screen, She's heard noises under the foundation of her house," says neighbor Betsy Adams.
The stand off is just the latest episode says neighbor Melanie Patsy. "She was out yesterday patrolling her yard. She thought people were in her yard and she would tell them they had five minutes to get out of her yard and she would shoot the gun. We just let it go yesterday."
Not today, Patsy says Trimmer threatened her daughter. "She said I have a gun and she walked up by the fence and she shot the gun. My daughter called 9-1-1 when she shot the gun that close to the fence."
That would begin a four hour stand off with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's SWAT team. "We tried to make contact with this person for an extended length of time. We tried to call them, use a public address system no response whatsoever," says Sgt. Scott Haines.
Greg Deissler was inside the house and says the first time he knew police were around, "When they pulled up with the big a** d*** van thing that busted the d*** door down."
That still didn't bring her out. A concussion grenade and a smashed bedroom window and eventually officers took Trimmer into custody. For neighbors like Patsy, it's a relief. "I have a four year old granddaughter a 19 year old and 17 year old still living at home and I'm afraid for them to go in the backyard."
At the end of the street where the standoff happened there's a church. On their sign the message "Forgive and Forget". That's something neighbors say they won't be able to do for a long time.
Trimmer is being held on weapons charges and aggravated assault.

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