An armed man was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon after he fired 19 shots at officers during a nearly five-hour standoff at a Clayton County hotel, police said.
The man, who was identified as Timothy Randall Monroe, surrendered to officers at the Southside Inn in the 6000 block of Old Dixie Highway about 2 p.m. after police fired gas into his second-floor room, police Chief Joseph Woodall said.
Officers also used a Taser on Monroe, who didn’t follow verbal commands after he left the room, police said.
“We managed to take him into custody without firing any shots at him,” Woodall said.
No officers were hit by the gunshots, which followed each deployment of gas, police said. Shots hit a robot and a police cruiser.
Monroe, 31, livestreamed a portion of the standoff on Periscope.
“I think it went out initially, but it was cut off shortly thereafter,” Woodall said.
No one was in the room with Monroe, who had two guns in the room and another one in his car, police said. One of the guns was reported stolen.
The standoff began about 9:20 a.m. when an officer doing surveillance at the hotel saw a car with a Texas license plate, Woodall said. A license check showed the car was stolen.
About that time, Monroe exited his room and manipulated the vehicle’s key fob, which caused the doors to lock, police Sgt. Ashanti Marbury said. When officers tried to speak with him about the stolen car, he retreated into his room and refused to come out, she said.
“When officers approached (Monroe’s) room door,” Marbury said, “they observed firearms in the room as he stood in the window and continued his refusal to come out. To maintain a peaceful environment, the officers moved away from (Monroe’s) hotel door.”
Officers then began negotiating with Monroe by phone to leave his room, and he refused, according to police. At one point, police fired beanbags at the room’s window to get the man to surrender.
“During negotiations, he stated that he was not going to jail,” Woodall said.
Monroe was charged with 19 counts of aggravated assault, two counts of theft, two counts of interference with government property and one count of obstruction, Marbury said.
Several people staying at the hotel were evacuated during the standoff.
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