Deputies wait out armed children in Idaho

BONNER COUNTY, Idaho (CNN) -- Police continued to wait out six armed children holed up in their home in Idaho's northern panhandle on Thursday.

The children have refused to come out of the home since Tuesday when they released a pack of dogs on officers who had arrested their mother.

On Wednesday, authorities backed away from the standoff saying they would wait the situation out.

"I've pulled my officers out of there because I don't want to artificially escalate this thing into a confrontation with children," Bonner County Sheriff Phil Jarvis said. "The kids are pretty upset right now."

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Idaho standoff

The confrontation began Tuesday when deputies arrested the children's mother on felony charges of injuring a child. Deputies then tried to take the children into custody so they could be turned over to state family and children's services agency, but Jarvis said the children retreated into the home and released 27 dogs on officers.

"These are vicious dogs which routinely track and kill deer and even killed a small moose recently," Jarvis said. "They've killed virtually every dog in the neighborhood by ganging up on them."

Deputies fired at the dogs, but Jarvis said he was not sure if any dogs were hit. Jarvis then moved his deputies off the property and cordoned off the road leading to the rural home to keep reporters and curiosity-seekers out of the area.

"We just wanted to house and clothe and feed the kids, but it's not worthy of a confrontation," he said.

Jarvis said he is willing to wait the kids out and avoid a potentially violent standoff, but it might take a while.

"They're pretty self-sufficient," Jarvis noted. "They've been eating off the land for some time. But I'm not about to press the issue."

Jarvis wouldn't give details of the charge against the children's mother, but said that it "comes from long-term neglect of the kids," who haven't been to school for some time. The mother is mentally ill, and her husband died recently after being bed-ridden by illness for several years, Jarvis said.

The two oldest children, a 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have apparently been taking care of the other children, he said.

The home has no power, water or telephone connection. Negotiators have been trying to talk to the children through a loudspeaker, but have received no response so far.