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House is encircled, but suspect's gone

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published December 20, 2006

SPRING LAKE - Monday was shaping up to be pretty lousy for John Bast Jr.

First, the 58-year-old had two teeth pulled, then he came home to discover his wife didn't have the right type of soup, and then, when he started yelling about the soup, his wife mentioned she was getting a divorce, according to arrest reports.

Deputies say Bast then threatened to kill his wife and mother-in-law, who was in the house. When they started running, they said he fired two shots at them.

Minutes later, the sheriff's SWAT team was setting up a perimeter around the house on Spring Lake Highway, just north of the Pasco County line.

Crisis negotiators joined the SWAT team and patrol deputies at the scene, a total of 20 people.

The lights were on in the house and the women who fled said they'd been watching to make sure he didn't leave.

But Bast just wouldn't pick up the home phone when the deputies dialed. It kept going to the answering machine.

About an hour into the siege, at 7:13 p.m., Deputy Randy Williamson got a call from Bast claiming that he was in Tampa.

The authorities didn't believe him, and they had no way to confirm that, so the standoff went on. But Bast was not inside.

Just before 9 p.m., a friend drove Bast to the Sheriff's Office headquarters, where he turned himself in.

Bast was charged with aggravated assault and released from the Hernando County Jail on Tuesday night on $30,000 bail.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 02:40:36]