WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A suspect wanted on several felony charges was arrested Monday night after barricading himself inside his West Palm Beach home for several hours, police said.
Officers went to the Fairway Vista apartments along Brandywine Road, near Village Boulevard, at about noon to serve a warrant.
However, James Gerald Parker, 49, would not come out of his apartment, prompting hours of negotiations.
Police said Parker is a convicted felon who was wanted on four felony counts of sexual battery, felony battery, false imprisonment and stalking.
"He made it clear that he wasn't going to come out, and he didn't want to come out alive," West Palm Beach Police Department spokesman Mike Jachles said.
Jachles said they quickly realized they had a safety issue, prompting authorities to order everyone in the apartment complex to stay inside. Then, there was a matter of a school in the area.
"School buses were diverted over to a Methodist church on Palm Beach Lakes [Boulevard]," Jachles said. "Parents were notified to pick their kids up there."
The situation hampered residents of the complex who were trying to return home for the evening.
Many residents, like Carolyn Tucker, could do nothing but wait.
"Once I got in the house, I could see through the back walkway where SWAT was coming through with the shields, and they must have sent a smoke bomb in there because it got all white," Tucker said. "That's when I thought it was over, and I'm looking at the cop that's sitting in the car. He said, 'No, no, go back in the house, go back in the house.'"
Parker was finally handcuffed and taken into custody just after 7 p.m. after the SWAT team used several canisters of tear gas.
"There was nobody else in the apartment," Jachles said. "There were no hostages. There were no rounds, no weapons, no shots fired."
Authorities said the warrant they were serving Parker stems from a previous incident involving a former girlfriend.
He is being held at the main Palm Beach County jail.