Armed man holding teen hostage at Syracuse apartment after releasing 14-year-old girls: police
Two 14-year-old girls who were being held hostage at an apartment building in Syracuse, N.Y. have been released, police said Saturday afternoon. However, another teen girl remains inside the building, trapped with the suspect.
According to Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile, a man called 911 around 8:30 a.m. to say someone had shot at him on the 1000 block of North State Street. The man wasn’t hurt, police said.
When officers arrived on the scene, they learned the shooting suspect was still armed with a gun and had barricaded himself inside an apartment building with the teenagers. Neither the identity of the suspect nor his relationship to the teens has been revealed.
Residents were ordered to “shelter in place” as more than 20 police and emergency vehicles, including an ambulance, arrived at the scene. The reason for the large number of responders was to ensure safety in the neighborhood, Cecile said, adding that the suspect was a “man with a gun” who had “shot at someone.”
Just before 2 p.m., Cecile told reporters that police had successfully negotiated the safe release of the two teenage girls, but the suspect was still holding one teen hostage.
The first teen was released at 11:40 a.m., while the second was freed at 1:21 p.m., according to Cecile.
In an update shortly after 5 p.m., police said the scene was still active and that “at least one known female teen and the suspect still remain inside” the apartment.
“We’re still in negotiations with the suspect inside,” Cecile said, according to Syracuse.com. “Obviously he’s being somewhat cooperative.”