Hartford -- Forced outside by the Intense heat of a fire he allegedly set, Richard Shenkman crawled out the back door of the South Windsor home where his ex-wife had been held hostage, put a gun to his head and screamed at police, a SWAT team member testified today during Shenkman's kidnapping trial.

Officer Matthew Mainieri, a South Windsor patrolman dispatched to the scene along with other members of the Capitol Region Emergency Services Team on July 7, 2009, told a Hartford Superior Court Jury that a round fired from another SWAT team member's non-lethal weapon caused Shenkman to drop his pistol.

When Shenkman tried to pick up the gun, another non-lethal round struck him in the hip area, Mainieri said, causing Shenkman to start walking away. At that point, Mainieri, who had staked out the Tumblebrook Drive house that Shenkman and his ex-wife, Nancy Tyler, used to share, advanced.

Once within 25 feet of Shenkman, Mainieri said he fired a Taser gun designed to implant an electrically charged "probe" into a suspect. When the first Taser shot failed to produce the desired effect, Mainieri, who had caught up with Shenkman, jabbed the Taser directly into him, knocking him to the ground. Mainieri said he "stunned" Shenkman again and that other officers took him into custody.

Under questioning by defense attorney Hugh Keefe, who will argue that Shenkman was legally insane at the time, Mainieri said he believed Shenkman yelled "shoot me" at SWAT team members on at least three occasions as the day's events drew to a conclusion.

The ordeal had begun that morning when Shenkman allegedly abducted Tyler at gunpoint in a Hartford parking garage and forced her to accompany him to the South Windsor house. He is accused of threatening to kill her, handcuffing her and chaining her to a basement wall.

Tyler managed to free herself and run outside, where police lifted her over a fence at the rear of the property and whisked her to safety.

Earlier today, a South Windsor police officer testified that an order authorizing snipers to fire at Shenkman, was rescinded "within five seconds" of Tyler's escape.

Shenkman faces a total of 10 counts, including first-degree kidnapping, violating a protective order, threatening, assault and arson.

Further testimony is expected this afteroon.