A section of the Animas River Trail was cordoned off for more than an hour Monday while police tried to subdue a woman armed with a handgun who was experiencing suicidal thoughts.

The standoff started about 3:22 p.m. behind the Home Depot in south Durango.

Police tried to communicate with the woman, but she was despondent and too close to the river to hear officers, said Cmdr. Ray Shupe, spokesman for the Durango Police Department.

“We had trouble communicating with her because she was next to the river and it was loud,” he said. “She wasn’t really respondent in two-way communications.”

Officers blocked off a section of the river trail and kept people away from the general area, on both sides of the river, Shupe said.

Police ended up using less-lethal bean bag rounds and a Taser to subdue the woman, remove her handgun and take her into custody, he said. The standoff ended at 4:45 p.m.

She was taken to Mercy Regional Medical and then to Axis Health System to receive a mental health evaluation.

The 42-year-old woman never pointed the gun at officers, and she was not charged with any crimes, Shupe said.

“Luckily she wasn’t injured and none of our guys were injured, so it ended the best it could,” he said.

shane@durangoherald