After Tense Standoff, Man Charged With Killing Wife: Cops

RIVERHEAD, NY — After a tense, four-hour standoff, a man was charged with fatally shooting his wife in their Riverhead home Tuesday, police said.

According to Suffolk County Police, the incident took place on Doris Ave.; officers responded at 9:20 a.m. after receiving reports of a man carrying a handgun.

Suffolk County Police's hostage negotiation team and emergency service section officers, as well as Riverhead Police, responded to the house where Robert Brown, 65, of Riverhead, had barricaded himself, police said.

After a nearly four-hour standoff with police, officers knocked down the front door of the house and, inside the house, found Brown’s wife, Sarah Brown, 71, dead from a gunshot wound, police said.

Brown was taken into custody at 2 p.m.; he was transported to Suffolk County Police headquarters in Yaphank where he was charged with second degree murder, police said.

He will be held overnight at Riverhead Town Police headquarters and will be arraigned Wednesday at Riverhead Justice Court, police said