Trenton hostage standoff enters second day-armed man holding kids after killing girlfriend,her child

[redqueen]

By Alex Zdan/The Times
on May 11, 2013 at 9:13 AM, updated May 11, 2013 at 9:38 AM

TRENTON - The standoff between an armed man barricaded in his South Ward home with children as hostages stretched into a second day as negotiators continue to coax him from the house where law enforcement sources say he killed his girlfriend and her child.

Trenton police said there were no updates on the standoff which now stands at 17 hours. Officers doing a wellness check found the decomposing body of a woman and were forced to withdraw by the armed man, law enforcement sources told The Times.

Negotiators from the New Jersey State Police, FBI, and city police have been trying to talk the unidentified man out of the home since the crisis began Friday afternoon.

Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said last night that there were children inside with the barricaded suspect, and negotiators were urging the man to release them.

...

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/05/trenton_standoff_with_armed_ma.html

[Bjorn Against]

1. As much as we hear about the "good guys with guns"

They never seem to be very helpful when there is a bad guy with a gun.

[geckosfeet]

2. There is an army of armed police working on it. The suspect is not at large.

What more do you want? If you want to help, get your behind out there and do something.

[HappyMe]

3. I saw a live picture this morning.

There are all sorts of LE, and they have evacuated surrounding homes.

[Bjorn Against]

5. What can I do to help?

This is the problem with guns, one nut case abuses them and there is very little that anyone can do. Yes, there are armed police there (thankfully they are trained rather than just a bunch of NRA loving gun nuts), yet their guns are not doing much to help them because if they open fire they put innocents in danger. Guns caused this situation, the only thing I can do to help is insist on laws that keep guns out of the hands of gun nuts like this guy.

[geckosfeet]

6. I would wager that a lot of those trained armed police are NRA members.

I would argue that guns didn't cause this. Right now they are keeping the suspect at bay.

BTW -New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but Trenton is still a crime ridden hell hole. Why? Economics, opportunity and inequality. Education. Lack of options for desperate lost people.

What can you do? I am not sure, but snarking about good guys not being around when you need them is not helping. My guess is that the dead woman and her child were good "guys". Too bad they were not able to defend themselves.

[Bjorn Against]

7. Of course guns caused this, the guy is not holding those children hostage with his finger

His victims did not die from his bare hands, they died from his gun. If he were unarmed the police would be able to move in to arrest him and rescue the kids much easier.

I do wish that the two people he killed were able to defend themselves. The problem is that it is very difficult for people to defend themselves against guns, the gunners are only concerned about their own self defense but they think nothing of the fact that the proliferation of guns makes it far more difficult for the average person who does not carry a gun with them 24/7 to defend themselves.

[HappyMe]

9. Those people would not be dead

if he did not have a gun. The bigger question here is why is he holding hostages.

[Bjorn Against]

10. I don't know, that is a question we will have to wait for the answer to.

It seems little is known about the suspect or his motives at this time, but these sorts of crimes do show the power that guns give to dangerous people. This one guy is able to prevent a huge squad of police from doing anything to stop him, all they can do is wait.

[sarisataka]

12. I would think the guy holding people hostage caused it

The article does not say how the people died, though they have been dead long enough to start decomposing.

Without a his having a gun it would change the dynamic but it would not be a matter of four cops walking in the front door and arresting him. Hostage situations are far more complex; weapons are one of many important factors. Even with an unarmed hostage taker, the team must move cautiously and deliberately to avoid unneeded injuries.

[Bjorn Against]

14. And the gun enabled him

I think the whole "guns don't cause this, people cause it" argument is ridiculous, the gun is what enables people to do things like this. I don't hear about unarmed hostage situations very often and it seems unlikely that this guy would be holding those kids hostage if he was unarmed.

[geckosfeet]

15. Ah. You mean a desperate person who felt he had no options used a gun to commiit violence

and murder. I. Mean, it's not like the gun got up and committed a crime.

[Yo_Mama]

20. Certainly the dead child was entirely innocent

NJ has strict gun laws, but that doesn't mean that nutcases won't kill kids. If you are willing to kill a child, by definition you have no respect for the law and the rights of others.

[The Magistrate]

4. A Small Price To Pay For Freedom, Ma'am...

Better a hundred incidents like this every day than that there should be the least impediment to liberty-loving Americans being armed to resist their government should it turn Socialist and decide to take away people's guns and impose Communist Islam on us!

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Oh my loving ears, Muslim Islam

That was good

[Robb]

11. If he didn't have a gun, he could have just as easily

...killed the child and mother with a swimming pool, then held them hostage with a station wagon.

[pinboy3niner]

13. Two words, Robb: Lawn Darts

[laundry_queen]

18. And spoons. nt

[Bonobo]

16. Google Alert "bad men". nt

[ellisonz]

17. Still at a stand-off:

Trenton hostage update: Armed suspect remains barricaded with kids - no end in sight for standoff
By Times of Trenton Staff Writers
on May 11, 2013 at 9:40 PM, updated May 11, 2013 at 9:51 PM

TRENTON – A standoff between police and an armed, barricaded man holding children as hostages inside his home stretched into a second day with no immediate end in sight to the incident that began Friday with the discovery that the suspect had killed his girlfriend and one of her children.

State troopers in tactical gear continued to spearhead the operation on the evacuated 200 block of Grand Street, where relatives said three children were being held inside and law enforcement sources said a fourth child remained dead inside the house with his deceased mother.

Frustrations and fatigue mounted as the standoff pushed past 30 hours last night, but State Police spokesman Lt. Steve Jones all involved law enforcement agencies were working together towards one goal.

“Obviously were looking for the opportunity to end this safely for everyone,” Jones said.
There is no state police protocol for a timeframe by which hostage situations must end, he said.

More: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/05/trenton_hostage_standoff_updat.html

[ellisonz]

19. Here's to hoping for this to end safely for those three children...

[ellisonz]

21. Police end hostage standoff in New Jersey; suspect dead

By David Jones | Reuters – 40 mins ago

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A tense weekend standoff in a Trenton, New Jersey, neighborhood ended early on Sunday with a hostage taker dead and three children, who had been held for 37 hours, rescued, authorities said.

Police shot Gerald Tyrone Murphy, ending the standoff and saving the lives of three unidentified children he had held hostage, New Jersey State Police Colonel Rick Fuentes said at a news conference Sunday morning.

Murphy, 38, a convicted sex offender, died of a gunshot wound shortly after the situation ended, Fuentes said.

The partially decomposed bodies of Carmelita Stevens, 44, believed to be Murphy's girlfriend, and her 13-year-old son were discovered in the two-story home, authorities said.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/police-end-hostage-standoff-jersey-detain-suspect-115012647.html;_ylt=AwrNUbJg349RjE8A1lfQtDMD

[HipChick]

22. Women needs to be careful who they let around their kids..