A man died after shooting himself after a standoff in central Mobile, Alabama that lasted more than five hours.
Parts of Government Plaza in Mobile were placed on lockdown amid the suicide intervention.
During the lockdown, Chief Paul Prine of the Mobile Police Department said officers were in communications with the man in the car, saying that he had pointed a gun at his own head. A cell phone was delivered to the man via a robot.
Chief Prine said communications had been difficult as the man didn’t act rationally.
The standoff started when police approached the man as he was suffering from a gunshot wound and the man aimed his firearm at the officers.
SWAT, Mobile Police, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, and Mobile Fire-Rescue were all present at the plaza.
As it was ongoing, police called the situation “contained” and said that it was not an active shooter situation.
Chief Prine said the situation was “fluid” and that the man was having an “episode” that was either “mental or drug-induced”.
The chief said the man had been identified and that family members had been contacted.
Chief Prine told reporters during the standoff that the man wasn’t a threat to the public and that “time is on our side”, adding that the authorities were willing to “wait it out”.
Mobile police Cpl Katrina Frazier told local media that the armed man was parked in a vehicle outside Government Plaza at 9.45am when officers walked towards him to see if he needed help.
She said that the man aimed the gun at his own head at this point.
“Officers backed away from the scene and we called in the SWAT teams and a negotiator,” she added, according to al.com.
“We do know this is not an active shooter scene. We are working diligently to talk to this (gunman) to find out what is going on and how we can resolve this quickly,” Cpl Fraizer said.
“The individual did produce a gun,” she said. “For the safety of ourselves and others, we are working to get him removed from the vehicle safely.”
Hours into the standoff, the man shot through the back window of his vehicle before stepping out of the car while holding the gun to his head.
At around 5pm local time, officials confirmed that the man had died after shooting himself.
Members of a SWAT team rammed into the man’s vehicle after he attempted to drive away, but his tires spun out, according to Chief Prine. Police then deployed teargas against the vehicle.
The man then climbed out of the window on the passenger’s side and shot himself. He was taken to hospital and his family has been informed. Family members said they didn’t know why the man was there, according to WKRG. The man was reported to be from the area around Mobile.
