Children Safe After Standoff Situation In Aurora
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) – A man is in custody after police say he barricaded himself inside of an Aurora home with two young children.
The hours-long standoff with police finally came to an end on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. when police say the man finally surrendered.
It all began shortly before 11 a.m. when police received a call of a domestic dispute at the home on Havana Street near 17th Avenue.
Police released a mugshot of the suspect, Christopher Reed, 41. Reed was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault, child abuse, and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
According to police, Reed punched a woman and slammed her against a wall. He also allegedly grabbed a 10-month-old baby from her arms.
When police responded to the call, they say the woman was waiting outside of the home. Officers said that the man came out briefly, but then retreated back inside the home with a 3-year-old toddler and a 10-month-old baby.
"He was downstairs in the basement with his children, and he has a weapon on him," said Lorenzo Pacheco, a neighbor.
Pacheco said that police asked him and his kids to get out of their home for safety reasons.
"They kicked us out of the house because the place was surrounded with cops and it wasn't going so well," Pacheco said.
When police discovered Reed's lengthy criminal, they called in a SWAT team. With the team in position, hostage negotiators worked to coax the man out. But that proved to be a difficult task.
Police said that it took more than three hours of bullhorns, phone calls, and even the help of some family members to convince Reed to surrender. Reed came out peacefully, and was taken into custody around 2:15 p.m.
Officers turned the children back over to their mother, who suffered injuries not considered to be life-threatening.
Police said that the children were not injured.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
