WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Police in Winter Haven warned residents in Buckeye Trace to stay inside of their homes while they negotiated with a man barricaded inside of a home with a 3-year-old early Friday.
Police say the man was suspected to have a gun and they were working to call him out of the home safely. The initial call came in at 11:30 p.m. Thursday night.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office was on scene assisting with the situation.
At approximately 4:40 a.m., police got the man out of the home and took him into custody. The child was unharmed and has been reunited with his mother.
The man (we are not identifying him because he was charged with domestic violence, a safety precaution for the victim) was taken into custody after police say he had a violent outburst fueled by alcohol.
Police say the man and his wife were in a verbal altercation at their home when the altercation turned physical and the man, who was heavily intoxicated, began throwing items in the home and breaking furniture. He screamed for his wife to leave the home and grabbed his 3-year-old son from his wife's arms and she ran out and called police.
When officers arrived on scene, the man was inside of the home alone with the boy, but was not responding to commands to exit the home. According to the man's wife, there was a handgun inside of the home.
After a six hours, the man came out of the home and police found the boy in the home, unharmed. He was charged with domestic violence.
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