Va. man surrenders after 4-hour standoff in Montco
A four-hour standoff in the Melrose Park section of Cheltenham ended Saturday with the surrender of a Virginia man who had shot a woman in the leg, taken her hostage, and fired at police, authorities said.
A four-hour standoff in the Melrose Park section of Cheltenham ended Saturday with the surrender of a Virginia man who had shot a woman in the leg, taken her hostage, and fired at police, authorities said.
Cheltenham police said they went to the 7300 block of Asbury Avenue at 11:25 a.m. after receiving a call about an assault and disturbance. Officers entering the house were fired upon but not injured, and police did not return fire, Detective Lt. Joseph Gruver said.
Other people fled the house through a back door and told police that the gunman was holding a woman against her will. Hostage negotiators were called, and the gunman surrendered at 3:40 p.m., police said.
Gruver said neither the gunman nor the woman would be identified until criminal charges were filed. The man, 28, was undergoing a mental-health examination, Gruver said. The woman, 44, also from Virginia, was treated at Albert Einstein Medical Center for head injuries and the leg wound. - Joseph A. Slobodzian