Some parents like to let their kids win now and then, whether it’s during a friendly game of chess, Connect Four or arm wrestling.
But not Curtis Zimmerman. The 55-year-old allegedly flipped out after losing multiple arm-wrestling matches against his underage son in a bizarre incident that involved a physical fight, gunshots and a stand-off with police in Kentucky early Monday.
“Zimmerman was intoxicated and challenged his juvenile son to an arm-wrestling contest,” the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Authorities say Zimmerman lost “multiple times” to the boy, which made him upset and led to a physical fight.
It’s unclear how the two were separated, but the father grabbed a gun and fired two shots while his son was fleeing upstairs, police said.
“Zimmerman stated that he fired the shots into the ceiling,” the sheriff’s office said.
Police were called to the scene at about 1 a.m. in Florence, Ky., where they soon found themselves in a standoff with the suspect. The boy and another family member had already left the home when authorities arrived.
The suspect refused to leave the house, touching off an eight-hour standoff with sheriff’s deputies and SWAT teams, officials said.
A hostage negotiator convinced the suspect to surrender at about 8:25 a.m., police said.
No one was injured in the ordeal.
Police said Zimmerman would be evaluated in hospital and later arrested on a warrant for charges of wanton endangerment.
The age of the boy has not been released.
The Associated Press was not able to determine whether the suspect has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
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