HANCOCK, Md. (AP) – Police ended a two-day standoff with a burglary suspect holed up in a motel with his pregnant girlfriend, arresting the man wanted in four states late Friday, authorities said.
Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said James Prevatt III, 26, was taken into custody at the one-story motel police had surrounded since Wednesday night, when officers came to arrest Prevatt.
Shipley didn’t immediately elaborate on how Prevatt was apprehended but indicated the suspect hadn’t made good on threats to kill officers or the woman, identified as Renee Reynolds, 21.
“The situation is over. Everybody’s OK,” he said. Shipley was expected to release more details later Friday.
A loud explosion was heard in the vicinity of the hotel at 7:36 p.m., and an ambulance left the area at 7:49 p.m.
The western Maryland motel was evacuated and dozens of law enforcement vehicles from local agencies, Maryland State Police and the FBI lined the nearby road Friday.
On Thursday night, authorities had played a recording of Prevatt’s mother, from Monks Corner, S.C., requesting that he come out and give himself up, Shipley said.
Police also used a robotic vehicle to send pizza and soda that Prevatt requested to his room Thursday evening. But Prevatt threatened to shoot the robot and did not retrieve the food, Shipley said.
On Friday, the robot was able to successfully deliver hamburgers and soda and then, in a separate trip, cigarettes.
Shipley said Prevatt had slept for short periods but had been awake for most of the standoff.
During the standoff, negotiators spoke with Reynolds and she told them she was fine, Shipley said. He said it was Prevatt who told authorities that Reynolds is pregnant.
Prevatt was wanted in Maryland, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Virginia on burglary and larceny charges, Shipley said.
The standoff at the America’s Best Value Inn on U.S. 522 had stranded some other guests because their luggage and vehicles were inside the police line and couldn’t be removed.
Troopers and deputies evacuated 12 occupied rooms of the 20-room motel at the start of the standoff around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Ohio travelers Doug Collin, of Kirtland, and Mary Lou Bender, of South Euclid, were finally able to continue their trip to visit her son in Tilghman Island, Md., after police retrieved their car and bags around 1:30 p.m. Friday.
“We just want to get our belongings and our car and get out of here,” Collin said.
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