A Sunday morning dispute between neighbors at a Town of Ulster apartment complex led to a standoff with a SWAT team, town police said, after one of the parties brandished a weapon. The situation was resolved peacefully after a police negotiator convinced the female suspect to surrender.

The incident began on Jan. 9 at around 9:30 a.m. when Town of Ulster police were called to an apartment complex at 779 Neighborhood Road for a report of a woman with a gun. Officers on scene learned that the suspect, whom police have not identified pending her arrest, had confronted a neighbor about an ongoing dispute and during the argument brandished a handgun.

Town of Ulster Police Chief Kyle Berardi said that police later determined that the gun was an air pistol.

“It was an imitation pistol, but to the naked eye, if someone showed up on your doorstep with it, you’d be concerned,” said Berardi.

By the time police arrived, the suspect had fled into her apartment, where she refused officers calls to come out. Police grew more concerned when neighbors informed officers that the woman had a number of long guns in the apartment.

At that point, Berardi said, officers called in the joint Kingston-Town of Ulster Emergency Services Unit. The SWAT team consists of officers from both agencies with specialized training and equipment to deal with high-risk situations.

The team was joined by a police negotiator who was able to make contact with the woman holed up in the apartment. The standoff lasted for about 90 minutes before the woman surrendered to police without incident. She was taken by Mobile Life Ambulance to HealthAlliance Hospital’s Broadway Campus for evaluation.

On Monday, Berardi said that he expected criminal charges to be filed once the suspect is released from the hospital.

In addition to the Emergency Services Unit, town police were assisted by Ulster Hose and Kingston Fire Departments, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the state police, Mobile Life Support Services, Ulster County Emergency Management and Town of Ulster Highway Department.

The joint city-town SWAT team was at the center of a controversy over a plan to use a U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security grant to replace an armored vehicle used by the team for standoffs with armed suspects, as well as rescue operations. The City of Kingston Common Council approved the vehicle purchase only after months of sometimes-contentious public debate over whether the vehicle was an example of inappropriate “militarized policing.”

On Monday, Berardi told Kingston Wire that the standoff on Neighborhood Road was the type of situation that the vehicle was needed for. But, he said, officers were forced to respond without it because, five months after lawmakers approved the purchase, it has yet to be delivered.

“That was definitely a situation where we could have used that vehicle,” said Berardi. “Unfortunately, we don’t have it yet.”