SWAT team enters home, ends hours-long standoff in Hatboro, Pa.
Two local SWAT teams were called in. Police spent all night trying to get the gunman to surrender.
HATBORO, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A suspect was taken into custody following an hours-long standoff in Hatboro, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Dispatchers said the incident started at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday when a woman reported a man at the corner of York Road and Moreland Avenue pointing a gun at her and other people driving by.
Police responded to the area, and the suspect ran into his nearby apartment building. That's where he barricaded himself for approximately 14 hours.
Two local SWAT teams were called in. Police spent all night trying to get the gunman to surrender.
"Trying to call his cell phone. He had two numbers, one was his house phone, one was his cell phone. He turned them both off," recalled Jim Donnelly, a tactical communications member of the Central Bucks SWAT team.
SWAT officers were finally able to enter the apartment late Wednesday morning, and a 35-year-old man from Hatboro was taken into custody just before 11:30 a.m.
Police said the suspect was not responding to officers as they attempted to make contact and negotiate with him overnight.
"We basically exhausted all options with talking...and devices to try to get him out, and he was completely noncompliant. So, the team entered, and they were able to take him into custody," said Hatboro Police Chief James Gardner during a news conference.
Another method the SWAT teams attempted was tear gas, according to authorities. Despite shattering windows of the apartment, the suspect did not budge.
Police said no one else was in the apartment with the suspect.
The suspect has not yet been identified by police.
Gardner said the suspect was taken to an area hospital for a medical evaluation.
"We do anticipate that there will be criminal charges filed," he noted.
A shelter-in-place was issued for residents in the area during the standoff. It has since been lifted.
The Hatboro-Horsham School District closed all schools Wednesday out of caution.
One thing local residents say they are taking away from the disturbing incident is to expect the unexpected.
"Any given moment, you wake up in the morning, and you think, 'Hey, I'm going to work,' and the next thing you know there's a gunman three doors down from my business," said Mark Amos, owner of the Bux-Mont Office Supply. "It's like, you know, it's a crazy world out there nowadays."
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A previous version of this story said shots were fired at police, but at a morning news conference police clarified that no shots had been fired by the suspect or police.
