In the middle of a nearly six-hour standoff with Gillette police, a pair of drunk and uncooperative brothers apparently got a little hungry, surprising law enforcement outside their Limecreek Avenue home when DoorDash showed up.
About an hour into trying to get the brothers out of the home early Thursday morning, “a DoorDash delivery driver arrived to drop off food at the home,” wrote Gillette Police Officer Eric Small in an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case that was made available Monday.
The 23-year-old younger brother had placed the order, so police contacted him through the DoorDash app with another request for everyone inside to come out, but he refused, the affidavit says.
That was at about 2:12 a.m., more than five hours before police would finally secure a search warrant to enter the house and arrest the brothers.
Small doesn’t elaborate on what type of food the brothers may have ordered or if police allowed the food to go through to the home.
To have a DoorDasher show up in the middle of police waiting out potentially armed suspects “is a new one on me,” said Frank Groth, a Gillette resident and retired career law enforcement officer.
“What drunks will do has never ceased to impress me,” he added. “Drunks will do the darndest things.”
He said that he’s seen times when someone in a standoff will demand food be sent in, but not someone ordering it themselves.
“There have been cases when some dude while barricaded will demand food, but I have not heard of anybody DoorDashing while somebody is inside,” Groth said. “That’s kind of novel.”
And while Small’s affidavit doesn’t say if the DoorDasher was allowed to complete the delivery, Groth said that wouldn’t happen.
“No, you can’t legitimately send somebody who’s not involved into a situation where you have armed people who are refusing to cooperate,” he said, adding that police may use the food as a lure.
“Yeah, you could tell those inside, ‘You want your DoorDash order? Sure, come on out and we’ll give it to you,’” he said.
Almost 6 Hours Later
It wasn’t until nearly 8 a.m. by the time that Gillette police moved into the home in the 1900 block of Limecreek Avenue and arrested the brothers, identified in court documents as 38-year-old Michael Pirelli and his younger brother, Joseph Pirelli, 23.
Michael was arrested and arraigned Friday on 12 misdemeanor reckless endangerment charges for allegedly shooting at least 25 rounds from a .44-caliber handgun out the back door of his home.
Joseph wasn’t charged with allegedly firing a weapon, but was ticketed with possession of a controlled substance, court documents show.
The reckless endangerment charges stem from the potential for the rounds fired out into the dark within 100 feet of some of his neighbors to “put multiple residents in danger of serious bodily injury or death,” the affidavit says.
“A .44-caliber is a large-caliber handgun and would be capable of penetrating multiple walls and causing significant injury to anyone within those neighboring homes,” the document continues.
Not Cooperative
Police first responded to the house in north Gillette a little after 1:30 a.m. after six neighbors called 911 within a five-minute span to report multiple shots being fired, the affidavit says.
“Witnesses reported several sets of shots in rapid succession, four to five shots each time,” according to the affidavit.
Officers also reported hearing shots “and saw a flash of light consistent with a muzzle flash from within the home,” Small wrote.
When officers attempted to make contact with those inside, neither of the men was cooperative, the affidavit says.
“Officers made contact with Michael by phone at roughly 01:48 hours. Michael was highly intoxicated and refused to exit the home,” Small wrote. “Michael claimed there were four people in the home and made illogical statements throughout.”
There were only the two brothers in the house at the time, not four.
After waiting outside for awhile observing the brothers move around inside the house, the DoorDasher arrived, the affidavit says. It was Joseph who placed the order.
By 7:55 a.m., officers had secured a search warrant to enter the house and went in, making contact with the brothers and arresting them.
What The Brothers Said
At the Gillette Police Department, Michael and Joseph Pirelli both reported that they were hanging out at the house earlier Wednesday evening shooting weapons.
“They then went out to the bars and drank heavily,” the affidavit says. “After arriving home, Michael claimed he was so intoxicated he did not recall much. He stated he did speak to an officer and told them everything was fine.”
He also confirmed the two .44-caliber handguns found in the home were his.
Joseph gave police a similar account, adding that it was his older brother who was firing the rounds out the door later in the evening.
“Joseph stated (that) when he got home, he passed out because he cannot keep up with Michael’s drinking,” the affidavit says. “He advised he had not touched or fired any weapons at the home and had no idea if Michael had.”
Michael Pirelli is out of jail on a $50,000 cash or surety bond, according to court documents and the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office.
Each of the 12 misdemeanor reckless endangerment charges he faces carries a maximum sentence of up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $750, or both.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
