Tupper Lake police Sgt. Jordan Nason said the New York State Police Bomb Disposal Unit determined after the arrest that the device that 44-year-old David A. Payrot of Tupper Lake claimed was a high-yield bomb in his backpack with a remote “deadman” detonator switch was not actually an explosive.

State Police negotiators got in contact with Payrot on a cell phone while he was still in the store Wednesday evening and worked to end the situation peacefully. Payrot surrendered to the NYSP Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team without incident.

At no point was anyone held hostage, Nason said. Payrot was in possession of a knife but Nason said it was never used or presented in a menacing way.

The entire downtown Park Street block was evacuated during the standoff — sidewalks, stores, restaurants and apartments — from Chaney Avenue to Cliff Avenue. Officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation Police, and NYSP’s bomb squad and K-9 unit were on scene. The heavy snow Wednesday evening collected on the road and on the backs of officers’ bulletproof vests as law enforcement worked to make the arrest.

Members of the New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team wait for David A. Payrot, who who claimed he had explosives at the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops and was in a tense six hour stand-off with law enforcement on Wednesday, to exit the store and surrender. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Nason said Payrot was charged with making a terroristic threat, second-degree placing a false bomb or hazardous substance and second-degree burglary, all felonies. He was arraigned in Tupper Lake Village Court and remanded to Franklin County Jail early on Thursday morning with bail set at $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond.

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Motive unclear

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The incident started a little after 2:30 p.m. and Payrot was arrested at around 8:30 p.m.

David A. Payrot speaks with New York State Police negotiators inside the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening toward the end of a tense six hour stand-off with law enforcement in which he claimed he had explosives, before stepping out of the store and surrendering to members of the NYSP Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team without incident. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Nason said village police were dispatched at 2:46 p.m. for a general panic alarm at the store and learned en route the details of the situation.

Stewart’s employee Jamie Jaquish had just started her shift when Payrot entered the store.

“A guy came in kind of acting a little weird. He was in the bathroom for a while. He came out and started putting stuff on the table. He comes up to the counter to my partner over there and said ‘I have a bomb. Get everybody out.’ And we did,” Jaquish said.

Nason said responding officers helped evacuate the store, made sure no one was left inside except for Payrot and secured a perimeter with the assistance of State Police.

It was just Jaquish and another co-worker in the store at the time. She said a customer was just coming in the store at the time and she told them to leave. She hadn’t recognized Payrot but described him as a man in his 40s with a gray beard.

A New York State Police K-9 unit walks down Park Street in Tupper Lake during a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives on Wednesday evening. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

“I’m really not sure at this time what it was he intended to accomplish by doing this,” Nason said.

Payrot told everyone to leave the store, so Nason said it appears his intent was not necessarily to hurt anyone. When village officers first evacuated the store, they spoke briefly with Payrot, and Nason said he kept telling officers to leave because he didn’t want them to get hurt.

“It didn’t appear that his primary goal was to hurt somebody. But it was apparent that it was a possibility. He was prepared to do that,” Nason said.

Nason said he could not rule out that Payrot was trying to hurt himself, but they still hadn’t gotten to the bottom of why this happened.

“There’s definitely an element of mental health crisis involved, but without knowing the true nature and intent of why this occurred I can’t say that it’s like, the only contributing factor,” Nason said.

A member of the New York State Police Bomb Disposal Unit searches the inside of the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening after the arrest of a Tupper Lake man David A. Payrot, who claimed he had explosives in a backpack in the store. The incident ended peacefully after a tense six hour stand-off when Payrot surrendered to members of the NYSP Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team without incident in the parking lot at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

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The arrest

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After hours of law enforcement assembling, preparing and waiting, things ramped up fast Wednesday evening. A dog came back out of a truck. A large armored BearCat vehicle pulled down the street and parked in the gas station lot, between the store and the gas pumps. State troopers with large guns moved to the side and made way for state troopers in military-style camouflage, massive body armor and even larger guns.

NYSP Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team members stepped out of the BearCat with rifles trained on the front door and began speaking through a bullhorn: “David, can you come out?” Payrot was seen pacing inside the store on the phone with negotiators for a few minutes before he slowly opened the door and came outside.

David A. Payrot surrenders to members of the New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team without incident in the parking lot of the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening after a tense six hour stand-off between Payrot, who claimed he had explosives, and law enforcement. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

The block was entirely silent as he exited the store and walked to the far corner of the building. The law enforcement — and onlookers, who for the past few hours had been talking, shuffling around and even chatting cavalierly as they waited around — were not moving and not speaking. People moved slowly but sharply.

NYSP Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team members shouted orders to Payrot to lift up his shirt and show them he had nothing on him, then, to walk toward them, turn around and place his hands behind his back. After they cuffed him, he was brought in the back of the BearCat, which remained in the parking lot for at least a half hour after the arrest.

State Police Troop B Public Information Officer Brandi Ashley said that police did not find explosives in the man’s backpack, and a NYSP Bomb Disposal Unit technician searched the store in a massive blast suit.

The case is being turned over to village police, Ashley said.

During the standoff, law enforcement were posted up behind squad cars on Park Street outside the gas station parking lot, shuffling back and forth to positions around the building, intermittently aiming rifles at the windows of the shop and talking — both about the situation and just chatting — as they were outside in the snow and cold for hours.

A group of onlookers — locals, Stewart’s employees and media — gathered on the opposite side of the street, spending the hours watching the store for any movement, trying to determine law enforcement’s tactics and guessing at the man’s identity. Some were staying warm and fed at the China Wok restaurant, which the owners kept open.

Stewart’s employees were waiting out in China Wok for a while, until eventually they got the word to go home.

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Best possible outcome

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Nason said this was a very stressful day for him and everyone involved.

“In this particular situation, I genuinely thought that somebody might get hurt — seriously hurt or even killed,” he said. “It’s very concerning because that’s not how you ever want the situation to end.”

Had Payrot exited with the alleged bomb and began to run, or move toward someone — any action that would lead someone to believe he could detonate it — law enforcement would have used deadly force to stop him, Nason said.

“I think that crossed everybody’s mind: ‘Is this the day that I may have to do that?'” Nason said. “Although, as law enforcement officers, we are prepared to do that — it’s part of the job — there isn’t a single one of us that wants to.”

These situations aren’t something that never happens, but it’s certainly infrequent, he said. And the stakes are very high.

“Walking into this at the beginning of it, you don’t know if this is going to be the worst day of your life or the last day of your life,” Nason said.

He said this thought was on his mind all day long and he spent the six hours hoping for the best possible outcome. And that’s “absolutely” what he said they got.

“I don’t believe it could have ended any better other than not lasting as long as it did,” Nason said. “All the law enforcement officers that were involved. They went home tonight. Everybody that was in that store, they got to go home tonight. And I’m not sure where Mr. Payrot is going to go. Probably not home. But he’s not dead.”

“As traumatic as it was, it could have been a lot worse. It’s a good day when everybody gets to go home,” Nason added.

It took a ton of work to get to that result, he said. Things moved incredibly slowly. For hours it seemed from the street that nothing was happening. But eventually they got the peaceful outcome they were looking for.

“I don’t think many people realize that although, yes, on the surface it looks like nothing is really happening,” Nason said. “Aside from the people guarding the door at gunpoint, there are investigators, there are all levels of rank and officers running around checking into this, making phone calls. When a critical incident like this occurs there are a lot of things you have to account for.”

He said NYSP brought a lot of experience with experts coming from around the region and the state.

“It was incredible, the cooperation and how fluid things worked between the different organizations,” Nason said. “I’m proud to work with such awesome people.”

There was a “laundry list” of things that had to happen. They investigated who Payrot is and why he might be doing this; coordinated road closures and scene control with the Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department; got the Tupper Lake Electric Department and Tupper Lake Volunteer Ambulance and Emergency Squad standing by. Nason said they had the foresight to have them at the ready.

With batteries dying faster in the cold they needed new ones for radios and body cameras. Officers needed water, sustenance and coffee to wait it out and people coordinated more officers to relieve those who were standing in the cold.

At 7:11 p.m. employees from the Wawbeek Quick Stop, another gas station down at the other end of the street, brought coffees to the officers.

The temperature hovered around 23 Fahrenheit throughout the entire situation.

“It was very cold,” Nason said. “I found myself shivering toward the second half of that six hours. It was a long day.”

“I would like to commend the heroic actions of all the officers that responded to this call,” Nason wrote in a press release. “The incident that transpired was extremely dangerous and could have ended catastrophically if not for the tremendous cooperative effort.”

Law enforcement train their guns on the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening during a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot after his surrender to members of the New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

New York State Police stand outside the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shop after a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives on Wednesday evening. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Law enforcement train their guns on the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening during a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot after his surrender to members of the New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Law enforcement train their guns on the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shops on Wednesday evening during a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives. The store was evacuated by village police and Stewart’s employees around 2:30 p.m. and the situation ended peacefully with the arrest of Payrot after his surrender to members of the New York State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team at around 8:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

A New York State Police officer walks outside the Tupper Lake Stewart’s Shop during a tense six hour stand-off with David A. Payrot, a Tupper Lake man who claimed he had explosives on Wednesday evening. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

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