A Father's Day in the park like none other

At first glance, Doylestown Township's Central Park looked like an idyllic Norman Rockwell-style rendering of Father's Day afternoon in suburban America.

Under a sunny blue sky and cottony clouds, a father with his son in a bike seat passed a mother pushing a stroller, as other families enjoyed the swings or hiked a trail across a stretch of meticulously maintained lawn.

But Sunday's park crowd was swelled by evacuees from a nearby upscale neighborhood whose Father's Day had been jarred by frightening sights and sounds on Bittersweet Drive and surrounding streets.

Neighbors shared stories of hearing gunshots, then seeing armored vehicles and police cars careering through the streets of the Doylestown Lea development — more Southland, the gritty police TV drama, than Rockwell. Clifton, N.J., Police Officer Richard Klementrovich had barricaded himself in his estranged wife's home at 25 Bittersweet Dr. near Radcliff Drive.

"All of a sudden, some cops came around and whipped out big rifles," Taylor Gandolfo, 20, said.

It was about 2 p.m. Sunday, and she and her parents, Paul and Shelly, had driven away from their house on Radcliff to get frozen yogurt when they heard gunshots and saw police cars pull onto their street. They turned around to go back home but could not.

Paul Shelly said he thought the shots came from a nearby rifle range — until he saw the police.

So they went for yogurt and then to Central Park.

John and Rosann Marabella were spending a quiet Sunday afternoon fixing up their house on Radcliff when they heard gunshots.

Like Paul Shelly, they did not immediately think that was unusual with a gun club nearby. But these shots were different.

"A little louder and far more rapid," John Marabella said.

"I thought someone barricaded themselves in his house with a gun," Rosann Marabella said, guessing right.

They spent the rest of the afternoon waiting at Central Park, hoping the ordeal would soon be over.

Having left their house wide open, they didn't want to go too far away, even to get a bite to eat.

"We'll call Domino's," John Marabella joked.

But a police officer assured them with so many officers on the scene, their house would be fine.

Just then, their son in Los Angeles called.

"He's probably calling to see if we're OK," Rosann Marabella said.

But news of the siege had not reached the West Coast. He was just calling to wish his dad a happy Father's Day.

Later, as the sun started its decline, police moved any evacuees still in the park to the adjacent Township Building as the standoff on Bittersweet Drive continued — and a truck carrying spotlights arrived.