LMPD :: Louisville Metro Police Department
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Man charged with murder following Fern Creek standoff

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A Fern Creek man who held police and SWAT team officers at bay for 3 ½-hours Saturday was charged with murder in the shooting death of his step-father, police said.

Todd Kaelin, 38, was arrested after surrendering at 10:22 a.m. at his home in the 6700 Block of El Rancho Road.

"It appears to be some kind of domestic dispute, but we don't know exactly what it was over," said Dwight Mitchell, a Metro Police Department spokesman.

The name of the victim, who was taken to University Hospital, was not immediately available.

The incident began when police responded to a report at 6:50 a.m. of a shooting at the home on a quiet residential street off Seatonville Road.

"While there, officers heard another shot from inside the house," Mitchell said. "Officers secured the perimeter and called in the SWAT team, which arrived between 8 and 8:30."

A woman in her 70s, who has not been identified but was unharmed, was allowed to leave the house about 9:20 a.m., Mitchell said. A fourth person, identified by Mitchell as the woman's grandson, was in the house at the time of the initial shooting but escaped before police arrived.

The incident ended when Kaelin was led out of the residence in handcuffs.

Police barricaded several blocks of the neighborhood during the standoff, including parts of Seatonville Road.

Christopher Short, who lives next door to the house where the shooting occurred, said that he walked to his driveway before the SWAT team had arrived and didn't yet know what was happening.

"I came out this morning and there was a guy with a shotgun behind my truck and I walked right back inside," Short said.

Neighbors said police had been called to the house in the past, and some said they had concerns about Kaelin's behavior.

"This is awful to say, but when he came out we'd go inside," said Short's wife, Kristi.

Neighbors Danny and Leslie Sageser said they hadn't noticed anything unusual at the house other than previous police runs there.

"It's a horrible situation," Danny Sageser said.