OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A suspect was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff ended in southeast Oklahoma City Tuesday morning.
It started around 4 a.m. at the Plaza Inn, near SE 29th Street and I-35, when police said a man tried to pull a woman into his room and rob her.
Police said from there, the man tried to barricade himself inside.
“They said come out with your hands in the air with nothing in them,” said Leo Grubbs, who was staying next door to the suspect’s room. “Then I realized it was the police. Then I saw the light trying to look into my room.”
All of this was an early and aggressive wake up call for Grubbs. He was woken up by police as they were trying to get the area cleared before they tried to get the suspect out next door.
“They went to beating on the door and told me that I had to leave but they didn’t want to see me get shot,” Grubbs said. “I didn’t want to see me get shot either.”
It was just before all of that when police said a woman called saying a man tried to pull her inside his hotel room and rob her. She was able to fight and get away before calling police.
“Based on the person’s behavior, it appeared that he was under narcotics or some type of drug use of some kind,” said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, with the Oklahoma City Police Department.
Officers got to the scene and, at some point, the suspect tried to throw a chair at them through a window. The tactical team was called out to handle it from there as he barricaded himself inside. They spent hours trying to get him out.
“Some methods were used, some gas was introduced into the room to try to make this person come out,” Quirk said.
When that didn’t work, it was time to go in.
“At which point more or less lethal devices were used; tasers, gas, several different devices were used,” Quirk said.
After just a few minutes, the authorities brought him out. One officer did suffer a minor injury, but is expected to be OK.
“There’s always something going on around here, but not nothing quite like this,” Grubbs said.
The suspect was taken to the hospital to be checked, but he is going to be booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on multiple complaints.