Target 11 Looks Into Man Accused In McCandless Standoff

Police recovered about 150 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a one-bedroom apartment following a four-hour standoff in McCandless.

Target 11 has learned that this wasn’t 52-year-old Russell Laing’s first run-in with police.

In the late 1990s, West Deer Township police said officers responded to Laing’s home for a report of a suicidal man with an assault rifle.

That standoff ended peacefully and authorities confiscated seven weapons, police said. Laing was not charged in that incident.

McCandless police said Laing was arrested early Sunday after he confronted officers with an assault rifle at about 1 a.m. as they responded to a medical call at the Presidential Arms apartment complex.

A SWAT team helped remove Laing from the apartment about four hours later and he was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Authorities went to Laing's apartment after getting a call from one of Laing’s friends, who said Laing had called and said he couldn’t walk, police said.

"When the officers arrived, they entered the apartment and were confronted by an armed individual," McCandless police Chief Gary Anderson said. "He was armed with an assault rifle that he cocked in front of the officer."

Police said Laing had more than 100 guns, including assault weapons and antiques, and about 15,000 rounds of ammunition in his apartment. Some of the seized guns are antiques.

Police are baffled by the sheer number of weapons.

“I can't explain it,” Anderson said. “In my 40 years, I've not seen that type of collection.”

Laing was charged with aggravated assault and making terroristic threats.

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