Gunman Taken Into Custody After 4 1/2-Hour Standoff With Tampa Police

TAMPA, FL — A man accused of taking two women hostage at gunpoint and then barricading himself in an apartment on South Westshore Boulevard has been taken into custody with no shots fired after a 4 1/2-hour standoff with Tampa police.

Just before 6 a.m. this morning, two women dialed 911 and said they barricaded themselves in the back bedroom of their apartment at Bowery Bayside by Cortland, 6301 S. Westshore Blvd., Tampa,after a man they knew came to the apartment and threatened them with a gun.

When Tampa police officers approached the front door of the apartment, they heard what sounded like someone racking a gun. A man inside the apartment then yelled threats at police as well as the two women barricaded in the bedroom.

The officers retreated to the parking lot and called in the SWAT team. The negotiator made contact with the man. While the negotiator talked to the gunman, SWAT was able to safely rescue the two women from the back bedroom through a window and brought them down a ladder.

The negotiator continued to speak with the man for over an hour.

Around 9 a.m., officers attempted to breach the front door with an explosive, but were unsuccessful.

The negotiator spent another hour trying to talk the man into giving himself up.

Around 10 a.m., the man's mother arrived and recorded a message to her son that was played over a public address system. But the man still refused to come out.

Around 10:30 a.m., several rounds of gas were set off in the apartment and SWAT team members were able to make their way inside.

They found the gunman in a bedroom and took him into custody.

He faces charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and aggravated false imprisonment with a firearm. Additional charges are pending.

Police have not released his name at this time.