Results tagged “hostage”

Last night, a Connecticut advertising executive surrendered to the police after a frightening standoff in which he kidnapped his wife, demanded a priest come and give her last rites, and then asked for a judge to re-marry them. Around 8:30 p.m., Nancy Tyler managed to leave the South Windsor house that ex Richard Shenkman was supposed to turn over her as part of divorce settlement, but the Post reports, "Dozens of gunshots and explosions were then heard at the home, which was soon engulfed in flames." Shenkman, who had asked police to shoot him, finally gave up around midnight. He also made his demands through a reporter for the New London Day, who previously covered his wife and him, and seemed to confide in the reporter: "If I wanted to do a murder/suicide, I could have done it three years ago. I've never hurt her in my life. I do want Nancy to walk out of here. I don't trust the cops. They have screwed up so much in the arson (case) and all that stuff." Police are at the home today investigating whether the home really had all the 65 pounds of explosives Shenkman said it did. He will probably be charged with kidnapping, arson, and reckless endangerment.

After the U.S. Navy killed three Somali pirates holding an American container ship captain hostage, pirates have seized four ships in 48 hours. BBC News reports the most recent was a Greek-managed ship with 22 Filipino crew members. NATO Lt. Commander Alexandre Fernandes told Reuters news agency, "There was only three minutes between the alarm and the hijack... They attacked at night, which was very unusual. They were using the moonlight as it's still quite bright."

Yesterday morning, police killed a Bronx man who had been threatening to kill his family, allegedly saying, "I have to kill the children and my wife and send them to heaven. I don't care about killing myself and going to hell." Mauricio Jacques, 35, had been holding his wife with one hand while a 10-inch knife was in the other; their three children, ages 5 to 11, were also present. Cops had tried to negotiate with him for an hour; WCBS 2 reports that Jacques agreed to surrender but " then lunged with a 10-inch knife at officers, who tried to subdue Jacques with a stun gun and rubber pellets. Undeterred, he stabbed an officer in the abdomen of his protective vest and slashed another's vest near the neck." The cops used the Taser on him again, but that didn't stop him, so one cop grabbed his wife while two others fired six shots at Jacques. Last week, the police fatally shot a woman who slashed a police officer.

Yesterday afternoon, a hostage standoff ended peacefully after police managed to get two men holding a grandmother at gunpoint to surrender. The situation, which unfolded at 505 East 184th Street in the Bronx, was initially a robbery. Police managed to rescue a couple and their 2-year-old son and arrested one suspect who tried to escape. Two men were still holding a 60-year-old woman, but after negotiations, the suspects finally "drop[ped] two guns in a bucket police lowered from the roof." One of the hostages told the Daily News one of the robbers "grew up with her in the same housing project," saying he was like a "brother" to her, "I'm very sad that he did this to me. And I'm very upset that he's going back to jail now."

A middle-aged man held several workers hostage at Sen. Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office in the town of Rochester yesterday, before surrendering to police. The alleged bomb he had taped to his chest turned out to be simply a number of road flares. Leeland Eisenberg's motivation for seizing Clinton's field office is unclear, but he appears to be a disturbed individual. The New York Times declined to speculate on Eisenberg's purpose ("[Police] would not discuss...

Yesterday morning's hostage standoff in the Bronx turned out to stem from an apparent love-triangle killing. Police had wanted to speak to Marlon Sanders, about a Monday night shooting in Queens. Jamal Leavy was fatally shot in South Jamaica, and police soon discovered that he and Sanders were both dating Shante Dalton, a city corrections officer. When police arrived at Dalton's Bronxdale apartment in their search for Sanders, she refused to let them in, prompting...

WABC 7 reports that someone has been holding hostages in a Bronx home since 4AM. The suspect is holding an uncertain number of hostages (WABC says there may be multiple hostages; Fox 5 says one) at 2445 Williamsbridge Road in the the Bronxdale section. One of the hostages may also be an off-duty corrections officer (the apartment is rented by a corrections officer). The suspect's relationship to the hostage and demands are unknown, but police...