Veteran sets fire to home in standoff with police
Another veteran is taken into custody after shots are exchanged with police. Still, one must wait in deciding whether “veteran” is the important detail.
Michael Vaughan, described as a “decorated military veteran” suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, exchanged gunfire and set his home ablaze during a 19-hour standoff with police in Covington, KY.
Police had responded callers concerned Vaughn’s comments on Facebook.
When the police came to Vaughn’s apartment, he holed up with his three children. Hours later, he torched his house and engaged in a gunfight with the police. After sustaining a gunshot wound to arm, he surrendered.
Vaughn was a member of the 201st Engineer Bn, 75th Troop Command, Kentucky National Guard. In a strange modern twist, he posted updates of the standoff on his Facebook.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Vaughn was a recluse who deployed to Afghanistan in 2008. He was an officer who was removed from leadership and had his security clearance taken away, according to a lawsuit Vaughan filed against the Kentucky National Guard. Vaughn had sued that he had not had due process in his sexual harassment and adultery charges.
The suit was dismissed in January.“Plaintiff Michael Dean Vaughan is very litigious,” was the opening of the judge’s verdict.
Vaughan had other troubles stateside. He has been arrested this year for violating protection orders. In February, a judge imposed an emergency protection order/domestic violence order against him. In May he was arrested and charged with violating the protection order.
Commenters on the Latonia Times Facebook page archived Vaughn’s Facebook posts as the standoff continued.
If the comments are to be believed, Vaughn saw himself as a wounded veteran, unhelped.
During the standoff, numerous commenters posted messages on Vaughn’s Facebook page. The page was then shut down by the police.
There were numerous comments about Vaughn and Rand Paul, the Junior Senator of Kentucky.
There is no confirmation on the web on anything relating to Vaughn’s “appeals” to Rand’s office, and all we can see for certain is what shows through the strange windows that social media provides in others’ lives.
What we have here, it seems, is a man who saw himself as forgotten. He is not alone in this narrative; others have and continue to see Vaughn as someone who needed help, was not given help, and was punished for not being helped. Obviously, details are still emerging, but even through the whisper of social media, one can feel the sadness, confusion and fear within this small story.
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