by A man died after shooting himself after a standoff in downtown Mobile, Alabama that lasted more than five hours.
Parts of Government Plaza in Mobile were blocked during the suicide intervention.
During the lockdown, mobile police department chief Paul Prine said officers were in communication with the man in the car, saying he had put a gun to his head. A mobile phone was delivered to the man via a robot.
Chief Prine said communications had been difficult because the man had not acted rationally.
The standoff began when police approached the man as he was suffering from a gunshot wound and the man pointed his firearm at the officers.
SWAT, Mobile Police, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Mobile Fire-Rescue were all present in the square.
As it was ongoing, the police called the situation “contained” and said it was not an active shooter situation.
Chief Prine said the situation was “fluid” and that the man was experiencing an “episode” that was “mental or drug-induced”.
The chief said the man had been identified and family members contacted.
Chief Prine told reporters during the standoff that the man was no threat to the public and that “time is on our side”, adding that the authorities were willing to “wait for him”.
Mobile police Cpl Katrina Frazier told local media that the gunman was parked in a vehicle outside Government Plaza at 9:45 am when officers approached him to see if he needed help.
He said the man pointed the gun at his own head at this point.
“The officers walked away from the scene and we called SWAT teams and a negotiator,” he added, according to al.com.
“We know this is not an active shooter scene. We are working diligently to talk to this (gunman) to find out what is going on and how we can quickly fix it, “said Cpl Fraizer.
“The individual produced a gun,” he said. “For our safety and that of others, we are working to have it safely removed from the vehicle.”
Hours after the stall, the man fired through the rear window of his vehicle before exiting the car with the gun pointed at his head.
At around 5pm local time, officials confirmed that the man had died after shooting himself.
Members of a SWAT team crashed into the man’s vehicle after he attempted to pull away, but his tires slipped off, according to chief Prine. The police then threw tear gas at the vehicle.
The man then exited the passenger side window and shot himself. He was taken to the hospital and his family was informed. Family members said they did not know why the man was there, according to WKRG. The man is said to have originated in the area around Mobile.
