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Borough Official To Stand Trial For SWAT Standoff At Home

MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (KDKA/AP) - The president of the McKees Rocks Borough Council waived a preliminary hearing on charges he threatened to detonate propane tanks and claimed to have "thousands of rounds" available to shoot police who responded to his home for a domestic dispute last month.

He will now stand trial.

Keith Schwab, 53, faces charges including aggravated assault and terroristic threats stemming from the six-hour standoff at his McKees Rocks home on April 26.

Schwab's attorney says his client has serious health issues that need to be addressed after what happened inside of his McKees Rocks home.

Jeffrey Wasak wouldn't elaborate, but called the situation a crisis.  Wasak said,

"When you deal with a person like Mr. Schwab, no criminal record, president of council and you look at this situation, it's clear - painfully clear - that we're talking about a man who's in the throes of a crisis. He is profoundly grateful that this incident resulted in injuries to no one. I think that the police conducted themselves with a great deal of professionalism. This had the possibility of ending in a much worse manner," Wasak said.

Around 7:30 p.m. that day, a man told police that his father was threatening to strike him with a baseball bat.

When police arrived, they say Schwab ran into his basement and may have secured some type of firearm.

The Allegheny County SWAT team was called to the scene. Negotiators established a dialogue and negotiated with Schwab for more than six hours.

Even Schwab's wife tried by phone, but he told her he had "thousands of rounds" inside the house. Then, the complaint says he told the chief he had "bullets that can penetrate vests."

Schwab's wife and kids were able to make it out of the house before the standoff. None of them were injured.

Because Schwab's bond was revoked, he remains in the Allegheny County Jail. Wasak says he's working on getting a hearing for the beginning of next week to change that and get him out of jail.

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