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Four men arrested in Delavan standoff

DELAVAN — Four men were arrested after an early-morning standoff at a Delavan residence Sunday.

Police said charges were pending against Guadalupe Valadez and Jesus Valadez, both 30, both who lived at the residence, 301 S. Second St.

Charges also were pending against Jeremy Soto, 25, and Jesse Soto, 29, both of Delavan.

All four were taken to the Walworth County Jail, according to a Delavan police news release.

Guadalupe Valadez and the Sotos were held on probation holds at the jail Sunday evening, but Jesus Valadez was not, the jail reported.

Police Chief Tim O'Neill said officers were called at 1:30 a.m. to the corner of Second and Wisconsin streets for a report of shots fired at a vehicle.

No one was injured by gunfire.

Police learned that the suspects involved in the shots fired report were in the house. They would not come out despite talking to police via public-address and telephone, O'Neill said.

Officers had been only a block away. They were responding to two calls: one at 1:15 a.m. for a report of cocaine possession in the alley behind Sports City Bar and at 1:18 a.m. for a disturbance in front of the bar, where at least three fights had broken out among 50 to 70 people in the street.

O'Neill said it's typical to have dozens of people in the street at that address, and many were out for pre-Halloween festivities.

Officers called for help and got it from village of Darien police and Walworth County sheriff's deputies.

Officers determined there were 11 mothers and children in the three-unit house where the suspects had fled, according to the news release, and "This situation required an immediate request for the Walworth County SWAT Team."

The sheriff's department called for support from SWAT units from Rock County and the city of Milwaukee, O'Neill said.

Hours of negotiation ensued. The 11 women and children left the residence at 7 a.m.

O'Neill said it did not appear that they were held against their will.

Four suspects were arrested without incident a short time later, according to the news release.

O'Neill said some of the men came out on their own, but one was arrested by Rock County SWAT deputies inside the house.

O'Neill said one of the men arrested looked as though he had been hit in the head with a bottle, causing a minor injury, but he wasn't sure why. He said police have information that the incident was a gang-related retaliation for a past incident.

Police were looking for a weapon or weapons but had not found any, O'Neill said Sunday morning.

O'Neill said the house the men were in is next door to the house where a man killed five people before killing himself in June 2007. O'Neill said he knew of no connection between that incident and this one, and no problems related to that neighborhood.

Police on Sunday afternoon said they had no more details.

The investigation continues as to whether the incidents near the bar were connected to the shots fired, according to the news release.