Update 1 p.m. – Reginald Lamont Wilkins, 40, surrendered to police after around nine hours of negotiations. More details to follow.
Update 10 a.m. – Around 8:30 a.m. WPD used ‘less-lethal’ gas to remove a suspect from the residence where he had been barricaded since last night. At around 9:30 a.m. officers attempted to ram the front door. As of 10 a.m. the suspect was still inside the building.
WILMINGTON — The Wilmington Police Department is preparing to use “less-lethal gas” to end a standoff with a suspect who has been barricaded in a Creekwood residence since Sunday night.
According to the Wilmington Police Department, the situation began as a trespassing call around 10:40 p.m. on Sunday night. Officers responded to a house on the 2900 block of Clayton Place and were met with a combative 40-year-old suspect. Police successfully arrested the man, but the suspect was released on an unsecured bond by the magistrate shortly afterward.
An hour later, police were called back to the same residence after a report that the suspect was breaking into his girlfriends’ residence. The man entered the house, fought with his girlfriend, stole her handgun, and then fled the scene, according to WPD. [Note: WPD later clarified the handgun did not belong to the suspect’s girlfriend and did not come from her residence. It is not known where the weapon came from at this time.]
The suspect then broke into and barricaded himself inside his grandmother’s house nearby (the grandmother escaped unharmed).
When patrol officers attempted to enter the home, the suspect fired a shot at them. Officers did not return fire, but pulled back and called for SWAT and negotiators, who attempted to reason with the suspect or about 2 and a half hours, according to police. The suspect did not speak with police.
Subsequent steps were also unsuccessful.
“As a next step, S.W.A.T. began searching the house with a robot; however, that particular robot is limited and cannot open doors. There is one closed door upstairs. S.W.A.T. made the call to enter the home and attempt to open the door. As they approached, the subject fired additional shots. No officers returned fire and no officers were struck. Officers backed out and attempted negotiations once again. The subject did not cooperate,” according to WPD.
As of 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning, WPD’s SWAT team was preparing to use “less-lethal” gas to remove the suspect from the residence.
