Capture ends long standoff with man holding 2 kids in New Hope apartment

A tense standoff at a New Hope apartment between law enforcement and a man holding two children ended Tuesday afternoon with his capture and no injuries, authorities said.

The children were not harmed, according to emergency dispatch audio aired from the scene around 2:15 p.m.

The incident began as a domestic dispute between the man, possibly armed, and his girlfriend shortly after 8 p.m. Monday at the residence on 62nd Avenue N. near West Broadway, said City Council Member John Elder.

Elder, who also is a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, said the woman left the apartment at some point and told police the suspect was threatening to harm her children.

Dispatch audio revealed in the first handful of hours that the children inside are 2 and 4 years old.

Elder did not specify what type of weapon the man might have had.

There were more than 10 squad cars from the New Hope Police Department and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office on the scene, and Sheriff Richard Stanek arrived about 7 a.m. Armored tactical vehicles also were called in.

SWAT personnel tried to make verbal contact with the man several times since sunrise. At one point, law enforcement told the man over a loudspeaker to retrieve a telephone left by a window so communication can begin.

Many residents in the cluster of apartment buildings were caught in the area sealed off by law enforcement. One man said he couldn't make a doctor's appointment, and a woman said she was unable to report for work.

Star Tribune photographer David Joles contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482