NW Indiana Standoff Ends; Girl Rescued, Suspect Dead
Updated 02/20/15 - 11:10 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 6-year-old girl who was held hostage for several hours Friday morning was safe, and the 32-year-old gunman was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, following a tense standoff with police in northwest Indiana.
Authorities were called to a home in the 100 block of Jay Avenue in Griffith at 1:30 a.m. for a well-being check, and domestic situation.
Police said a gunman was holding a 6-year-old girl and two adults – including the girl's mother – against their will.
Less than an hour into the standoff, he released the two adults, but continued holding the girl hostage.
Police SWAT teams and an FBI agent negotiated with the man for hours, and at times the talks became hostile, police said.
In the end, the man stopped answering his phone, so a SWAT team forced its way inside around 8:30 a.m., and officers dropped a tactical robot camera inside to see what was happening.
"The robot was placed inside the home. The robot secured the main level of the home, and showed there was no subject on that main floor, and the SWAT team entered, located the girl, and safely brought her outside to her waiting mother," Griffith Police Chief Greg Mance said.
Police officers carried the girl outside, wrapped in a purple blanket.
The gunman was found dead in the basement. Police said he had shot himself.
It was unclear what prompted the man to take the girl and the two adults hostage, or what his relationship was to the three victims. Police said he knew the girl's mother.
Police also said alcohol might have been a factor.
