Police: Man threatens former colleague with gun at Stamford office building

STAMFORD -- A man walked into a Shippan office building Friday afternoon and pulled out a handgun during an argument with a former co-worker, police said. Almost the entire patrol shift was sent to the scene, some officers armed with riot shields and assault rifles.

Joel D'Ort, 27, of 2808 Lehigh Ave., Allentown, Pa., was arrested, and police were still working Friday evening on the extent of his criminal charges.

D'Ort was arrested at his former Mohegan Avenue home after police secured the seven-floor office building at 70 Seaview Ave. with search teams. While clearing the building, officers got information about D'Ort and ran his name through their records, then went to his nearby former home, where he was arrested, police Lt. James Matheny said.

D'Ort used to work for XL Capital, a company located in the Seaview House building at 70 Seaview Ave., police said; they did not know the exact nature of his employment there. The company takes up most office space at the building.

At 1:13 p.m., a Seaview House employee called police and said a man threatened a woman with a gun on the fifth floor of the offices.

During the confrontation, the woman had a phone pulled from her hand as she tried to call 911, police said; she was later treated at Stamford Hospital for a hand injury.

Believing there may be an armed gunman in the Seaview House offices, the police department "emptied the building and sent everyone we could," police Lt. Sean Cooney said. At least 20 officers responded, he said.

Officers formed teams and searched the building floor by floor, starting at the seventh story and working their way down. A second team searched the parking garage, and a third secured a perimeter around the building, stopping traffic at the office complex.

Police found a handgun stashed in a ceiling tile in the fifth floor after an employee told officers the suspect had gone in that room for a few minutes after the confrontation, Cooney said. It was not the same room in which the alleged dispute occurred.

During the search, police developed information that led them to a home on Mohegan Avenue a few blocks away in Shippan, they said. Officers spotted a man peering at them through windows inside the home, police said. The man, later identified as D'Ort, opened the door and came outside, where police said an officer told him to lie facedown on the ground; he was taken into custody without incident.

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Police: Man threatens former colleague with gun at Stamford office building