Police shoot, kill, man in domestic violence standoff

Sandra Chereb

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 3:47 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A domestic dispute turned deadly Thursday when police shot and killed a man who held a woman hostage with a butcher knife and set fire to the couple's kitchen.

Officers first responded to the residence at 2541 Orovada St. around 2:30 a.m. after dispatchers received a 911 hang-up call, Deputy Chief Ondra Berry said.

There they met Glenn Sigford Sunde, 37, who said he had an argument with the woman but that had she left with the couple's 8-month-old child, Berry said.

Berry said the couple was not married but had lived together off and on.

Officers returned to the residence about a half-hour later on another domestic violence call when the woman returned after leaving the baby with a neighbor, he said.

Berry said police saw Sunde carrying a large butcher-type knife and that he appeared to have several self-inflicted stab wounds.

He said Sunde told officers he was taking the woman hostage and threatened to "cut off her head."

Efforts to negotiate with the suspect ended just before sunrise when Sunde started a fire in the kitchen and police heard the woman screaming, Berry said.

SWAT team members stormed the home and found Sunde holding a knife to the woman's throat.

Police opened fire when the man reportedly threatened officers and attempted to stab the woman in the head, Berry said.

"We know at least two officers fired," he said. Sunde died at the scene.

The woman, whose name was not immediately identified, suffered only superficial wounds.

Officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave pending an internal review of the shooting - a routine procedure whenever officers use deadly force.

Their names were temporarily withheld to allow them time to inform their families of the incident, Berry said.

Records show Sunde had an extensive arrest record, including convictions for drug offenses, burglary, shoplifting and probation violations dating back to 1984. He twice was sentenced to two years in prison.

In December 1997, police records indicate Sunde threatened to kill himself by injecting air into his body. The next month, he was admitted to the Nevada Mental Health Institute as an emergency committal.

Records also show officers responded to Sunde's home in March on a family disturbance call, but he was gone by the time police arrived.