Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect a press release from the Elizabethton Police Department.
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — A man was arrested after a multiple-hour standoff with police in Elizabethton early Monday morning.
According to the Elizabethton Police Department (EPD), officers responded to a Walgreens in reference to an alleged domestic assault that happened on Bluefield Avenue. Upon investigation, officers learned that Nathaniel Effler, 33, had refused to leave the victim’s residence after being asked ‘multiple’ times.
On Sunday, April 16, the victim told the EPD that Effler ‘became irate and started cursing [them], threatened to kill [them] and brandished a knife and held it to [their] throat.”
Effler then allegedly used a knife ‘or another object’ in an attempt to open a door in the residence the victim was hiding in. The victim stated that Effler allegedly tried to set the apartment on fire by igniting a pan of grease. After the victim left the apartment, Effler allegedly sent them threatening messages, the release stated.
The EPD obtained an Aggravated Assault arrest warrant for Effler, and around midnight on Monday, officers and Carter County Sheriff’s deputies went to the apartment to issue the warrant.
Effler then allegedly barricaded himself and another male inside the apartment once officers arrived.
“Officers evacuated other residents of the apartments and activated the EPD Special Response Team and requested assistance from the Johnson City PD crisis negotiation team,” stated the EPD. “Negotiators established contact with [Effler] and the hostage was released at about 4:30 a.m.”
Negotiations continued until Effler surrendered around 6:30 a.m. No injuries were reported during the incident.
Effler was taken to the Carter County Jail and additional charges are pending.
