HAMPTON, Va. — The man who barricaded himself in the Superior Pawn & Gun shop in Hampton Friday morning after what police say was an attempted burglary surrendered late Friday afternoon.
Watch: Police take Superior Pawn & Gun suspect into custody after hours-long standoff
Police say they went to the store, located in the 100 block of West Mercury Boulevard, just after 6:30 a.m. after getting a call about a burglary attempt.
When officers arrived, they saw a suspect outside the business who then retreated inside.
Police and SWAT teams were on scene all day, attempting to communicate with the suspect and get him out of the business.
Throughout the day, law enforcement could be heard using a loud speaker to ask the suspect to surrender. Law enforcement could also be heard telling the suspect a phone had been tossed into the business for them to use to talk to law enforcement.
“It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this before, honestly," Shamel Hall, who lives nearby, said.
West Mercury Boulevard was closed for hours, but both eastbound and westbound lanes reopened Friday afternoon prior to the suspect being arrested.
At one point, what sounded like a siren could also be heard, and hours later officers in tactical gear could be seen walking on the roof the business. They made multiple trips to the roof throughout the afternoon.
Richard James, who spent 30 years as a police investigator, said how law enforcement respond to a situation like this depends on how they assess the threat.
"If there's an active shooter situation where there's a person who may be harmed, injured, or killed now there's no delay. You must go in immediately," James explained. "Time is on your side if there’s no victims or there’s no danger of someone getting hurt. If you enter, police officers may get hurt , too. They may become victims, so it may not be beneficial for them to enter immediately if there’s no harm to any victim at the scene."
After an incident, law enforcement involved will be quick to assess their performance.
"There's always a debriefing, and those debriefings are usually done as soon as possible while things are fresh in your mind. Then, of course, there's a secondary debriefing," James explained.
Superior Pawn & Gun is home to Hampton's only public indoor shooting range, according to its website.
