ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on officer shooting and hostage situation with children in Orlando (all times local):
3:20 p.m.
The police chief of Orlando, Florida, is urging a gunman who shot a police officer to release four children he is holding hostage and peacefully end a standoff that has lasted more than 12 hours.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday afternoon that police negotiators have been in communication with suspect Gary Lindsey five times since the standoff at an apartment started around midnight.
The children Lindsey is holding hostage range in age from 1 to 12. Some of them are Lindsey’s children and some belong to his girlfriend.
Officers were called to the apartment by his girlfriend because of a domestic dispute. Upon arriving, the officers were fired upon, and Office Kevin Valencia was shot. The police chief says Valencia is expected to survive but he has “very significant injuries.”
Court record shows Lindsey has an extensive criminal history.
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7:10 a.m.
A man believed to have shot a police officer responding to a report of a domestic dispute at an apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, barricaded himself in an apartment with four children in an early-morning standoff that was still unresolved Monday afternoon.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said the officer was expected to live despite “very significant injuries.”
Officers were called to the Westbrook Apartments near the Universal Orlando Resort theme park resort late Sunday by a woman who said her boyfriend had beaten her. When officers arrived at the apartment, gunfire was exchanged, hitting the officer, Mina said. The police chief said he doesn’t know if the man was shot.
The officer was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was expected to survive. The police chief asked the community for prayers for the officer and his family.
