MARSHALL — Law enforcement officers weren’t the only responders during a standoff incident on Marshall’s East Main Street last week. Not far away from the standoff, community members were offering local residents a safe place to shelter.

“We used one of our rooms at the Y to house everybody,” said Tom Bolin, executive director of the Marshall Area YMCA. Volunteers from the American Red Cross also provided evacuated Marshall residents with food, as well as cots and blankets.

“Our focus was on the people,” said Marilee Thomas, a local Red Cross volunteer who was called out to help Marshall residents sheltering at the YMCA.

Area law enforcement, including the Brown, Lyon, Redwood and Renville Emergency Response Unit, were called out to a multi-hour standoff at a residence on the 100 block of East Main Street the evening of April 17. Traffic was blocked off on Main Street during the incident, and people out along the street at the time were told to either stay indoors or leave the area.

Some nearby residents were temporarily evacuated from their homes during the incident.

The Marshall Area YMCA was open as normal the evening of the standoff, Bolin said. Then, he said, “The Police Department came over to update us on the situation next door.” People were being asked to shelter in place, he said.

Bolin said the YMCA worked with law enforcement and volunteers from the American Red Cross to shelter people in the Y facility. Once everyone was indoors, the YMCA was closed, he said.

A group of four local Red Cross volunteers were called to the YMCA to help people sheltering in place there, Thomas said.

“We’re cross-trained in a number of areas,” Thomas said of the volunteers. For last week’s incident, volunteers were there “to help provide a safe space,” and help make the people sheltering at the Y more comfortable as they waited things out.

Thomas said Red Cross volunteers provided food and personal care items for people, as well as blankets and cots to rest on as the evening went on. Volunteers also had small teddy bears that they gave to children sheltering at the YMCA with their families.

“It got a big smile from them,” Thomas said. Thomas said the Red Cross gives the bears to kids after events like disasters. “It gives them something to hold on to, kind of a comfort item,” she said.

“It was nice to be able to give people an opportunity to de-stress,” Thomas said. It ended up being a late night, but the evacuated residents were eventually able to return home.

“I think we had people out by about midnight,” Thomas estimated.

The YMCA does have agreements with agencies in Marshall to serve as an emergency shelter, Bolin said. However, the standoff wasn’t the type of emergency he had anticipated responding to.

“We don’t really have a plan for this type of situation, but it turned out well,” he said.

Thomas encouraged area community members to consider becoming American Red Cross volunteers.

“We really want to build our local volunteer base to reflect the diversity in our communities, not just in Lyon county, but throughout southwest Minnesota,” she said. More information on how to become a volunteer is available online at redcross.org.

The police standoff on East Main Street ended with the arrest of a Marshall man, 63-year-old Paul Kenneth Laumann. Laumann is charged with first degree attempted murder, first degree assault, second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, making terroristic threats, and reckless discharge of a firearm. A criminal complaint alleges Laumann fired a handgun at a law enforcement officer in his home, and later shot through a window at law enforcement.

An upcoming court hearing for Laumann is scheduled for April 30.