Suspect Escaped After Barricade Situation In Stafford County: Police

STAFFORD COUNTY, VA — A suspect escaped deputies on Monday morning after a barricade situation in Stafford County, the sheriff's office said in a news release.

Authorities have not identified the suspect by name. The sheriff's office said the 26-year-old man is wanted on felony assault charges.

Around 2 a.m. on Monday, the Stafford County Sheriff's Office asked residents to avoid the 400 block of Musselman Road as they negotiated a barricade incident. Deputies were originally called to the scene for a "disturbance" at a home in the area, authorities said.

At 4 a.m., the sheriff's office lifted their perimeter and ended the road closure, but the suspect was not taken into custody.

"As a perimeter was established around the home, we believed the suspect was barricaded inside," Major Shawn Kimmitz of the Stafford County Sheriff's Office said in a video posted to Facebook. "However, after a search by our K-9 team, our drone team, and our SWAT team, we determined that the suspect was able to get out of the perimeter."

The sheriff's office did not provide any further details about the suspect.

"We encourage the suspect to turn himself in," Kimmitz said on Monday morning. "We are not giving up and we will find him."