It’s a rare occasion when we, the Osceola News-Gazette, are part of the stories we tell.
But today was such a day.
About 2:30 p.m. a man called the newsroom asking to speak with someone about problems he’s having regarding custody of his 2-year-old daughter. He identified himself as Adam Andersen and said police were coming to arrest him at his home at 285 Indian Point Circle in Kissimmee.
Andersen called back a short time later and got connected with one of our staff members Jody Gillespie. He told her he was an Iraq veteran and that he had been maligned by the justice system and 9th Circuit Court Judge Diego Madrigal.
"He feared he was going to be killed. I was trying to calm him down. I told him we didn't want anyone to get hurt. He wanted his daughter to know he loved her and I told him he needed to be alive to tell her. I told him to talk to the police and he could address his issues with the judicial system from there, but he needed to be alive to do that,” Gillespie said.
By then, deputies from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office were on the scene.
Gillespie stayed on the phone with him while our publisher Rochelle Stidham spoke to Sheriff’s Office officials.
“The negotiators asked if we could tell him to come out peacefully,” Stidham said.
“I think Adam thought this was his day to die. Jodi really helped talk him through this. It could have ended much worse,” she said.
Both women heard Andersen being arrested and heard deputies say there were no other people in the Indian Point Circle home.
Andersen has been booked at the Osceola County Jail for violating a condition of release.
Court records indicate Andersen, 34, has a July 2 court date on charges of corruption by threat against a public official (direct), threats or extortion, written threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
