TAMPA, Fla. — A man who barricaded himself inside an apartment for several hours Thursday morning has been arrested, according to the Tampa Police Department.
Tampa PD said officers responded to the Bowery Bayside by Cortland apartments after two women called 911 just before 6 a.m. and said they were barricaded in the back bedroom of their unit because a man they knew was threatening them with a gun.
Tampa PD said when officers arrived and approached the front door they could hear the man making several threats toward them and the women inside, and what sounded like "someone racking a gun."
For everyone's safety, the SWAT team was called to the scene.
The SWAT team, per Tampa PD, was able to safely rescue the two women from the back bedroom while making contact with the man.
For over an hour, a SWAT negotiator continued to speak with the man.
Officers tried to breach the front door around 9 a.m. with an explosive but were unsuccessful.
Around 10 a.m., the man's mother arrived at the scene. She recorded a message in hopes that he would come out of the apartment when he heard it but it didn't work, Tampa PD said.
Thirty minutes later, officers entered the unit after deploying several rounds of gas into the apartment and found the man in one of the bedrooms, and took him into custody.
The man, whose identity was not released, faces charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and aggravated false imprisonment with a firearm. Tampa PD said additional charges are pending.
