2NM’s Andrew Reynolds impacted by Muswellbrook siege

2NM's Andrew 'Bear' Reynolds. Image: ARN

Last Thursday started out as a typical day for 2NM Muswellbrook Breakfast announcer and Content Director Andrew Reynolds.

Little did Andrew – familiar to listeners of the ARN station as ‘Bear’ – know that he was about to become part of a major unfolding news story, directly impacted by a siege in the local neighbourhood where he lives – which ended up lasting sixteen hours.

The stand-off began when police tried to execute an arrest warrant at a house close by.

Recounting the experience to Radio Today, Andrew says the first he heard of it all was when he returned home from work that day around 4pm.

“My wife told me she heard loud, yelling voices at about 2pm, and the next thing you know, the street’s just full of police.”

For their own safety, Andrew and his wife vacated their house.

“We went over to our neighbours across the road and thought we were only going to spend a couple of hours with them.”

“As it turned out, we spent the entire night with them while we waited for the situation to be resolved.”

At one point, Andrew needed to go back to his own house to get some medication for his wife. Three police officers gave him a heavily armed escort.

“The tactical response group were there for pretty much the entire night, negotiating. We could hear them on the bullhorn, encouraging (the man inside) to come out and end this thing peacefully.”

Next morning, Andrew went back on air for his Breakfast shift while the standoff continued.

By around 7am, the situation had finally been resolved, with a man arrested and taken to John Hunter Hospital for further assessment.

Once allowed back home, Andrew caught up on some much-needed sleep.

“I reckon I slept about ten hours, because on the Thursday night I slept about four hours on the neighbours’ floor – which is not ideal before a Breakfast show,” he says drily.

Andrew says the incident came as a complete surprise to him, and he is full of praise for how local emergency services handled the situation.

“The police were fantastic and they were certainly very accommodating for the community.”

But Andrew was disappointed by some of the commentary about the incident on a local community Facebook page.

“I’d like to think that the average person could be a great deal better than that,” he says.

“If there’s anything that anyone can take out of this situation, it’s that they can have a look at their presence of social media and, quite frankly, be a lot better.”