Long Neck man faces charges after shooting at police, officers say

A Long Neck man faces charges after police say he locked himself in his girlfriend’s house before walking out of the Pot-Nets home and shooting at officers.

The incident began around 8:25 p.m., Nov. 19 when a woman called 911 to report a domestic incident in progress at her home in the 25000 block of Crab Alley E, said Master Cpl. Gary Fournier of the Delaware State Police. The woman told dispatchers that her boyfriend, Michael Bartie, 31, had been consuming alcohol since coming home the afternoon of Nov. 19, Fournier said, and Bartie had locked himself in a bedroom with their 9-month-old child. She also said Bartie refused to come out with the child and he was putting on body armor and armed himself with a rifle.

The woman left the house on her own and was placed in the safe care of the responding troopers, who had established a perimeter around the house. Negotiations with Bartie began over the phone for him to exit the house, Fournier said, but he continued to be uncooperative, and at one point, threatened there would be a shootout. At 8:58 p.m., Fournier said, Bartie walked outside his house carrying a flashlight and the rifle, pointing it in the direction of the troopers. He then fired off one round in the direction of the troopers and got off a second round before a trooper returned fire and struck Bartie in the torso, Fournier said.

At that point, Fournier said, Bartie stopped shooting, and a Delaware State Police helicopter occupant was able to observe him lying next to a vehicle in the driveway. Troopers approached Bartie and placed him into custody before allowing EMS to transport him to an area hospital where he was admitted for a nonlife-threatening injury. Fournier said police found two firearms, a .223 assault rifle, and a 9mm handgun, in Bartie’s possession or in the immediate area.

Bartie was formally arraigned bedside at the hospital for possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and four counts of first-degree reckless endangering. He has been remanded to the Delaware Department of Correction in default of $600,000 cash bond. Fournier said there is no photo of Bartie as of this time.

The trooper who returned fire, a 5-year-veteran assigned to Troop 7 in Lewes, has been placed on administrative duty per divisional policy. No troopers or members of the public were injured during this incident.

The 9-month-old child was unharmed and was safely returned to his mother.