MARIES COUNTY— A High Gate man was taken into custody without incident early Friday morning after a six hour armed standoff with law enforcement officers after he barricaded himself in a bedroom with a baby girl.

Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman said Anthony F. Macclugage, 27, of High Gate, was taken into custody and transported to the Phelps County Regional Medical Center’s Stress Center in Rolla following the incident. Heitman said he was pleased with the outcome because it was a terrible, stressful incident that could have resulted in an officer or the suspect being shot. 

Maries County Prosecuting Attorney Terry Schwartze has charged Macclugage with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, and the felony charges of domestic assault and resisting arrest.

According to Sheriff Heitman, the incident began last Thursday night at about 10:30 p.m. when deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call. Upon their arrival, they found an adult female and juvenile outside the residence in High Gate and were told Macclugage had barricaded himself in the bedroom with an infant, a one year-old baby girl. Macclugage also had a handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition. Heitman said they established a perimeter and more units responded including the sheriff office’s SWAT Team and troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Sheriff’s deputies who were at the scene were Lt. Scott John, Corporal Bret Turnbough, Conner Michael, Mark Morgan, as well as Belle Marshal Joe Turnbough. 

The sheriff was one of the supervisors who talked to Macclugage through the bedroom door and established a rapport with him. It took six hours of negotiations until they were able to persuade Macclugage to release the infant to a family member and to turn himself over for transport to the stress center in Rolla. 

Heitman said it was a very tense situation because a baby was involved and they knew they could not fire shots into the room for fear of shooting the baby. He said the baby’s mother was chocked by Macclugage but was not seriously injured. He said Macclugage was drunk and possibly on prescription pills and he was unreasonable. He kept saying he wanted to die and that someone was going to die. It was a long, stressful and exhausting evening for the law enforcement officers. Heitman said when Macclugage finally opened the door, he handed the baby girl to Heitman, and the baby smiled at him. Macclugage had sobered up, was tired and hungry. The officers finally were successful in being able to calm him down enough for him to open the door without incident. “The best possible outcome happened,” Heitman said.

Macclugage and Sheriff Heitman have some history as the sheriff arrested him when he was younger for a gun involved incident. Macclugage was placed on probation, which he completed and he was able to purchase guns. He had several of them at the residence, the sheriff said, who also stated he knew Macclugage probably should not have guns. “He could have used guns against me and my deputies,” the sheriff said.