Crime & Safety

Man Surrenders to Police After 6-Hour Standoff

He claimed he had explosives in car parked at county's public safety complex.

Update, 10:05 p.m.: Police said they have not found any weapons.

Update, 9:49 p.m.: Fairfax County police took a suicidal man who said he had explosives into custody around 9:20 p.m. after a six-hour standoff in a parking garage at the county’s public safety complex. Police said negotiators convinced the man to surrender.

Police have not released the man’s name or age but described him as a white male. Just after 3:30 p.m., police received a 9-1-1 phone call from either the man or one of his family members, said Officer Bud Walker, a county police spokesman. He said patrol units arrived at the top level of the parking garage to find the man locked in a car refusing to come out. Walker said police do not know why the man chose to go to the garage.

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Police plan to interview the man tonight and are using a robot to search the vehicle for explosives.

"We're still searching the vehicle because he made reference to having explosives," Walker said.

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No one was injured in the standoff, Walker said, but the man allegedly threatened to harm anyone who came close to him. 

UPDATE: Officer Bud Walker, a spokesman with Fairfax County Police said police responded to a report of a suicidal man parked in a public parking lot Saturday afternoon.

Police received a phone call just after 3:30 p.m. reporting a man parked on the top level of the county’s courthouse parking lot threatening to harm himself.

Police do not know if the man has a weapon. Walker said several police officers are on the scene and they are going to approach the man in a slow and methodical way.

“We don’t know if he has a weapon or not,” Walker said outside the county’s Public Safety Complex.

Police have blocked off the entire area surrounding the Fairfax County Courthouse as well as downtown Fairfax City. Officers from Fairfax County as well as Fairfax City are on the scene.

Original Post: A bulletin from WTOP says a man has a gun near the Fairfax County courthouse. A heavy police presence has been reported.

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