CALDWELL -- A standoff in Caldwell Wednesday led to an officer-involved shooting that left a 40-year-old man dead.
Around 2 p.m., officers served an arrest warrant to David Banda, 40, on Fairoaks Drive near Ohio Avenue. Police say Banda failed to come out of the home when ordered to.
"We knew he was inside, we got a warrant to go in and apprehend him. We used our SWAT team to do that. We had Canyon County Sheriff, some of their SWAT members assist us as well," said Caldwell Police Chief Chris Allgood.
Banda was wanted on an arrest warrant for burglary out of Caldwell. While on scene, police waited for more than four hours to get a search warrant to enter the home. They finally went in at 6 p.m., and Banda was dead by 6:05 p.m.
Neighbors began to gather throughout the afternoon, wondering what was happening. Janet Myers was one of them.
She believes there was a girl babysitting at least two small children inside the home where the suspect was.
"For the longest time the police kept saying, 'We have a warrant,come out.' And nothing was going on," Myers said. "We were standing with the other neighbors and a truck came by and dropped two people off and a lady was in tears and her daughter is in the house babysitting. She didn't know if her daughter was safe, but they were apparently in a bedroom safe, and she had a cell phone. But when the gun shots started we didn't know what direction they were coming, so of course, I hid behind the trailer. But that mother, it was the most frightening thing to hear gunshots and her daughter is in the house."
Three other people were in the home at the time of the shooting - including one adult and two juveniles. They were not hurt according to police.
Police say Banda came out of the house with a gun, and they repeatedly ordered him to put it down. They say he did not, forcing them to shoot.
"On the execution of that warrant we encountered the suspect, shots were fired, officers did fire shots, the suspect was hit," said Caldwell Police Chief Chris Allgood.
Myers said she heard six gunshots.
Police said Thursday they did not know how many officers fired shots, or how many shots were fired. They said a number of officers are on paid administrative leave.
"It was stupid to be standing out here with all the police cars, but there was nothing going on until they started shooting,” said Myers, "That's what was the worst part of all of it, seeing the mom with her child in there."
Banda's father Sam was angry with police.
"What can you do to a person who doesn't have a gun, refused to come out, not wearing no vest, they got all the protection. The odds are way, way, way on their favor," Sam Banda said.
It isn't officially known if Banda was living at the home where the shooting took place. Family members told KTVB the home was his girlfriend's, and he was living there until about two weeks ago.
The Critical Incident Task Force is also on scene to investigate. Nampa Police will be the lead investigating agency.
This shooting comes less than a week after four Washington state police officers were shot and killed.
"Day to day since the thing that happened in Washington, every officer's sense of awareness is heightened. That just brought home what can happen anywhere at anytime, and I believe everybody has a heightened sense of awareness now," Allgood said.
