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Man involved in '92 standoff ordered released
LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Hayes County District Court Judge David Urbom ordered the release of John Maxwell Montin during a July 12 review hearing in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Montin was involved in a 1992 standoff with law enforcement agencies in Hayes County.
During the hearing, two Lincoln Regional Center psychiatrists testified and submitted a report supporting their determination that Montin was no longer a danger, nor would be in the future.
Montin and Hayes County officials have participated in the annual review hearings since the court finding of not responsible by reason of insanity more than 20 years ago.
The release order was dated July 16, 2013, and according to court officials Montin has likely already been released.
Threatened to kill couple in rural home
LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Nearly 21 years ago, a man from Florida walked onto the Hayes County homestead of an elderly couple and demanded that they give him back his grandfather's land, or he'd kill them.
Fear kept the couple, Janet and Robert McKillip, inside their house that night of Sept. 23 and 24, 1992, while the man, a blond-haired, 30-year-old John Maxwell Montin of Elbro, Florida, shot at law enforcement officers who responded to Janet's pleas for help.
Montin shouted at officers, "This land is my grandfather's ground!" and he fired off either the .38 caliber pistol or a .270 caliber rifle he carried. He said he was Native American, and he was reclaiming his ancestral lands by armed force, Hayes County Attorney Patrick McDermott testified in court several days later.
Janet McKillip told the court that the 11-hour standoff started about 9 p.m., when she heard shots fired outside their house. She shouted, "Who's there?" and a voice answered that he was there to kill somebody. Janet McKillip saw two guns -- a pistol on a belt and a rifle with a sling.
Janet McKillip said she asked the subject what he wanted and he replied, "Who's here? I'll tell you who's here! Someone's going to get killed!" Montin fired off 25 to 30 shots in response.
Janet said she loaded a 12-gauge shotgun with six-shot magnum shells and called her son, Rodney, and law enforcement for help. Janet told the judge during Montin's arraignment that she and her husband did not leave the house because her husband suffers from Parkinson's disease and doesn't move well. "He was as frightened as I was," she testified.
Hayes County Reserve Deputy Cletus "Pete" Walker was the first officer to encounter Montin after Janet McKillip called for help to the McCook Police Department, where her son-in-law, Joel Willers, was an officer, and her daughter, Nancy Willers, had been a dispatcher. Walker, who lived nearby the McKillips' home, responded in his own station wagon and drove toward the McKillip house through an adjoining hayfield.
Walker told the court, "I was looking directly down the barrel (of Montin's pistol) -- not more than 50 yards away. I knew he was going to shoot by the stern look on his face. I knew he was going to pull the trigger."
Walker continued, "It was not too dark (to identify Montin). He was directly in my headlights. I saw him clearly. I saw him fire the gun." Walker quickly put the car in reverse and joined other officers on the main county road.
Montin would be charged with first degree attempted murder (of Pete Walker), first degree false imprisonment of the McKillips and two charges of use of a firearm to commit a felony. McDermott filed 10 additional charges of first degree attempted murder, of the other officers who responded, and 10 charges of use of a firearm to commit a felony; those would be dismissed by Hayes County judge Cloyd Clark for lack of evidence.
Ted Mashek, a Nebraska State Patrol officer based in McCook, testified that he tried to communicate with the subject or subjects throughout the 11-hour standoff. Mashek said he heard the subject shout, "You people are trespassing. Get off my land!"
Mashek said they weren't sure how many people they were dealing with, because even the McKillips reported hearing "voices" talking. Mashek said, "We could hear him talking constantly." Officials eventually determined, from following just one set of tracks, that Montin was alone and talking to himself, or to others he believed were with him.
Fellow Patrol officer Thomas Nutt, a leader of one of two State Patrol Emergency Services Teams responding to the incident, said that Montin told officers to leave the scene so that he could kill the occupants of the house. Nutt said that Montin "was mad, enraged, and he wanted us to leave so that he could kill the people in the house. If we didn't leave, he said he would kill us too."
Trooper Douglas Carmichael, another ESP officer, wearing night-vision goggles, said that he encountered Montin who said he was in Montana.
Montin objected to the laser sight on Carmichael's rifle, which projects a red cross or dot on its target. Carmichael testified that Montin screamed that the laser "was illegal ... that we were putting a computer virus into the air."
Throughout the night, Montin fired shots toward the house and toward the trees where officers stood. He changed clothes at least once throughout the night.
Toward morning, Montin walked out of the McKillips' farmyard. NSP Lt. Steve Evans and Hayes County Deputy Tom Dow followed directions from an officer in an NSP airplane to find Montin on the top of a hill about a mile from the McKillip house. Evans testified that he and Dow shouted at him to stop, but he kept walking. Montin eventually stopped, turned and seemed to be trying to make a decision, Evans said. He laid down the gun, put his hands up and laid down on the ground. He offered no further resistance.
Montin was arrested wearing a web belt, and a holster holding a .38 pistol. He had .270 caliber bullets and two loaded .38 caliber magazines in the belt.
Montin left the rifle at the McKillip farmstead. A van that Montin had been driving was found about three miles from the McKillip farmstead.
Montin was eventually found not responsible by reason of insanity, and sent to the Lincoln Regional Center for treatment.