Thursday, March 28, 2024

In Pictures: Suspect in Creekwood peacefully ends nine-hour standoff with Wilmington police

[Click photo for slideshow] Reginald Lamont Wilkins kneels and raises his arms in surrender to Jacksonville Police SWAT officers as he exits a duplex in the Creekwood South community of Wilmington. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

WILMINGTON — A man slowly emerged from a Creekwood South duplex with his hands raised at 12:17 p.m. Monday, ending a standoff with Wilmington Police that began last night.

Reginald Lamont Wilkins, 40, surrendered after around nine hours of negotiations, according to the WPD. According to witnesses, a SWAT team from Jacksonville arrived towards the end of the standoff to help relieve WPD officers; that team helped handle the surrender.

Residents of the community were heard yelling, “We love you Reggie!” as Wilkins was driven away in a SWAT vehicle. A WPD negotiator told a woman standing at the intersection of Emory Street and Clayton Place that he would be processed then assessed for mental health conditions that may have contributed to the standoff. The woman said she was no longer in a relationship with Wilkins but was the mother to four of his children.

Several other nearby residents said Wilkins had struggled with mental health issues. WPD spokesperson Jessica Williams later said a WPD captain told her Wilkins would not be taken to the hospital, but that he may receive a mental health assessment at the New Hanover County Jail.

At around 8:25 a.m., nearly an hour after the WPD announced to local news outlets that Wilkins had barricaded himself into his grandmother’s house with a gun in the early hours of Monday morning, WPD officers inserted “less-lethal gas” into the duplex in an attempt to force Wilkins outside. They used a long pole protruding from the front of a SWAT vehicle, with a rod and what appeared to be a gas canister attached at its end, to deliver gas through holes broken into the upstairs and downstairs windows.

But Wilkins remained inside for the next four hours, even as SWAT members, standing behind a black SWAT vehicle, aimed rifles at an upstairs window.

Just after 9 a.m. the WPD used a flat, metal battering ram connected to the same long pole to knock down one of the front doors of the duplex.

At around 10:25 a.m., a drone took flight and descended towards the building’s roof, where it remained for several minutes near one of the upstairs windows. Neighbors gathered along Emory Street to watch the unfolding action, some surrounding a flower memorial with the letters “R.I.P. ZJ – We love you” painted on a wooden board in the middle of the small garden.

The memorial was built in honor of Zalleux Johnson, who was shot and killed in the neighborhood in February 2019. In the shooting’s aftermath, then-WPD Chief Ralph Evangelous and Johnson’s mother begged for an end to all attempts at retaliation. Evangelous said the shooting was considered gang-related.

Wilkins arrested, released, then allegedly fired at police before barricading himself inside duplex

Members of a Jacksonville Police SWAT team drive a second emergency response vehicle onto the property. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

According to Wilmington Police, officers initially responded to the 2900 block of Clayton Place after a trespassing call was made around 10:40 p.m. Sunday night.

“The 40-year-old male subject was combative, but was successfully taken into custody and transported to the New Hanover County Jail,” according to the WPD.

He was then released by a magistrate on an unsecured bond, and about an hour later police again responded to the same address in reference to a report that Wilkins was breaking into his girlfriend’s residence.

“He entered the residence, fought with his girlfriend, stole her handgun, and fled,” according to the WPD. “Officers arrived on scene and pursued him. The subject broke into his grandmother’s house with the gun, where he barricaded himself inside. His grandmother was able to leave the home prior to this.”

According to the WPD, Wilkins fired a shot when WPD patrol officers first entered the home, but officers did not return fire. The department did not clarify whether Wilkins had fired towards officers or if any officers had been struck.

At 11:30 a.m., the WPD said it has “since been discovered the gun did not come from the subject’s girlfriend’s home, nor does it belong to her.”

After Wilkins fired the gun, patrol officers backed out of the duplex and called WPD SWAT members and negotiators to the scene, but Wilkins refused to speak to police, according to the WPD.

A spokesperson for the department said SWAT officers then began searching the duplex with a robot, but due to its limitations, it could not open any doors. She said they then attempted to enter the duplex and open an upstairs door.

“There is one closed door upstairs. SWAT 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 the WPD.

At that time, SWAT members began preparing to use the unspecified gas to “move the subject out of the residence.”

See more pictures of the standoff and eventual surrender below:

8:19 a.m. Wilmington Police officers close off a section of 30th Street. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

8:33 a.m. Gas pours out of the downstairs windows of the duplex. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

8:34 a.m. WPD Chief Donny Williams crouches behind a patrol vehicle while talking on his cell phone. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

8:35 a.m. WPD Chief Donny Williams walks along Emory Street. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

8:46 a.m. Gas pours out of the windows of the building. SWAT members used a long pole protruding from the front of a SWAT vehicle, with a rod and what appeared to be a gas canister attached at its end, to infuse gas into holes broken into the upstairs and downstairs windows. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

8:52 a.m. SWAT members provide cover at a neighboring duplex. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

10:15 a.m. Neighbors watch the hours-long standoff. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

10:26 a.m. A WPD drone flies over the roof of a duplex where the man had been barricaded since the early hours of Monday morning. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

10:28 a.m. Neighbors watch the scene near a memorial for Zalleux Johnson, who was shot and killed in Creekwood South in February 2019. In the shooting’s aftermath, then-WPD Chief Ralph Evangelous and Johnson’s mother begged for an end to all attempts at retaliation. According to Evangelous, the shooting was considered gang-related. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

10:33 a.m. A WPD officer blocks off pedestrian and vehicle access to Clayton Place. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

11:16 a.m. Members of a Wilmington Police SWAT team surround a second emergency response vehicle driven onto the property. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

11:36 a.m. A Wilmington Police officer removes jumper cables after a patrol vehicle’s car had apparently run out of battery on 30th Street. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

12:15 p.m. After a group of around 10 SWAT members from Jacksonville Police and Wilmington Police walked away from the scene, several from JPD remain, one’s weapon aimed at an upstairs window. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

12:22 p.m. Reginald Lamont Wilkins kneels and raises his arms in surrender to Jacksonville Police SWAT officers as he exits a duplex in the Creekwood South community of Wilmington. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

12:22 p.m. Reginald Lamont Wilkins, far left, prepares to enter the back of a SWAT vehicle with his hands cuffed behind his back. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

12:27 p.m. SWAT team members from Jacksonville Police (wearing camouflage uniforms) and Wilmington Police (wearing blue) relax after the long standoff comes to an end. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

12:33 p.m. Jacksonville Police SWAT team members ride on the back of an emergency response vehicle. (Port City Daily photo / Mark Darrough)

Send tips and comments to the reporter at mark@localdailymedia.com

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