Tuscaloosa Woman Prompts Stand-Off After Refusing To Let Children Leave Apartment

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Tuscaloosa woman has been charged with felony interference with custody after barricading herself and two children in an apartment Sunday and refusing to let them return to their parents.

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The Tuscaloosa Police Department said officers were called to The Path of Tuscaloosa at 800 31st Street just before noon Sunday.

Two residents of the apartment complex told TPD officers they had allowed their children to stay overnight with a neighbor, who was now refusing to allow the children out of the apartment.

Police then began to speak with Dasha Sharnell Bishop, 23, who refused to come to the door for the parents and for the officers who first responded.

The parents of the two children told police that they felt the children — ages 6 and 10 — were in immediate danger, which prompted TPD to summon the services of two mental health officers, a Youth Aid investigator and the Special Response Team.

Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue Service paramedics were also on standby at the scene.

TPD said Special Response Team members then breached the front door and brought the children out safely at 3:05 p.m.

Bishop had remained barricaded in a back bedroom with the children, but was transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail and charged with felony interference with custody.

Bishop remains in jail, with her bond was set at $15,000 — the maximum possible for the felony charge.

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