Salina, NY – A quiet suburban Salina neighborhood was the scene of a chaotic 13-hour standoff this weekend after a man who deputies say stabbed another man to death barricaded himself inside a home.
SWAT officers had to protect firefighters as they put out a series of fires.
Officers set up on the second floor of a nearby house to see into the house where the suspect had barricaded himself.
Some neighbors ended up sleeping in their cars when they couldn’t get home. Others took shelter in their homes and watched the standoff unfold.
Deputies were called to a home at 543 Sunflower Dr. on Friday around 3:41 p.m., where they found a man with stab wounds to his neck. The man, Taiwo Ogunsola, 38, who lived next door, later died at a hospital, said Thomas Newton, a spokesman for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
The stabbing suspect, later identified as Raoof Mustafa, 49, barricaded himself inside the home, deputies said.
Dozens of police officers, SWAT officers and firefighters rushed to the scene. The streets were blocked off. Deputies set up a mobile command center down the block.
The sound of officers attempting to speak to the suspect through a megaphone could be heard throughout the night.
At one point, 10 to 20 flashbangs went off near the house. The officers used a battering ram to try to break into the house.
During all of this, the man inside started a series of fires, Newton said.
SWAT officers carrying long guns protected firefighters as they worked to extinguish the blazes.
“It wasn’t something we did every day,” Liverpool Fire Chief Matt Manley said.
Officers feared the man inside might try to harm firefighters.
“They are watching the house for movement of the suspect who was still inside and giving us cover,” the fire chief said. “They didn’t know his condition and wanted to make sure we were safe.
Residents were forced to shelter in place as law enforcement attempted to negotiate with the suspect. Some had to find other places to sleep when they could not return to their homes.
Aaron Blasyak, 44, was working at his home across the street when his wife called him wondering what was going on on their block. When he looked out the window, he saw a line of police cars and policemen on the street.
“I tried to stay away from the windows because SWAT was heavily armed,” he said. “I was just trying to relieve myself. I didn’t have much information.”
At one point, several hours into the standoff, Blasyak said officers asked if they could use the upper floors of his home to investigate the suspect.
“They came to the door at about 8 o’clock asking if any of our windows had higher advantage points,” he said. “The angle was such that they thought they might be seeing something.
On Friday around 8:30 p.m., police officers escorted Blasyak from his home so he could be reunited with his family.
Tracy Hrynio lives next door to the home where the standoff occurred, and her daughter was home when officers first arrived on the scene. Her daughter told her on the phone that she heard screaming outside and saw police officers with large guns in the yard next door.
Hrynio was escorted to her home early in the stalemate. A few hours later, she was evacuated when the suspect set his house on fire.
“I stuck my head out and said ‘we’re safe here’,” she said, “and the officer said ‘no, get out and go down the street’.”
Hrynio and her daughter grabbed their coats and shoes and walked down the street to her car, where they ended up sleeping until the standoff ended around 5 a.m. Saturday.
Authorities have not released many details about the stabbing or how the two men knew each other.
The stabbing victim, Ogunsola, lived at 541 Sunflower Dr., according to voter registration records. Homes of victim and suspect – 543 and 541 Sunflower Dr. – they are two generations.
Ogunsola succumbed to his injuries at Upstate University Hospital on Friday evening.
Suspect Mustafa was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns, according to Deputy Doug Roser, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
He was taken to the Justice Center Jail on Saturday.
Mustafa is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree arson and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
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