NYPD: Armed Suspects Arrested Overnight After Holding Queens Family Hostage Inside Home
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two men were arrested Wednesday after police say they broke into a Queens family's home and held several people hostage.
Police spent much of Tuesday night negotiating with the suspects. The men let four hostages go free, including an infant, before they were arrested.
After hours of barricading themselves inside the home in Richmond Hill, they were taken into custody at around 2 a.m. without incident.
They were being held at the 106th Precinct with charges pending. One of the suspects is 35 and the other is 51.
Police said they got a call at around 9 p.m. about an attempted burglary inside the home on East 125th Street near Liberty Avenue.
Investigators believe the incident started as a burglary that escalated.
The woman on the phone said she was assaulted and that two armed men were inside the home, not letting her or her family leave.
Exclusive video shows a part of the overnight negotiation between the men and police. One man is seen with his hands up on top of a roof surrendering, when the other pulls him through a window, apparently not ready to give up. The suspects then barricaded themselves in the home for three more hours.
The home belongs to the family of Emmanuel Abreu, who friends said died in October of Stage 4 lung cancer.
"This is really sad right, and I don't got no words right now because I'm heartbroken," Snow Capone said.
"That was my big brother to me. God bless his soul," another person said.
One man told Dias that Abreu's wife, mother, grandmother, who is in her 80s, and 9-month-old daughter live in the home.
Witnesses said police called in one of the suspect's wives to get him to surrender. All four hostages were eventually removed from the home safely by midnight.
Loved ones suspect the men targeted the family, thinking they collected money after Abreu died.
"I just heard that news, and I'm mad right now," one person said.
Neighbors say they had to evacuate their homes for five hours during the negotiation process.
"They came here and they rang the doorbell, and they told us we had to get out, so we ran to 103rd Avenue," neighbor Basdeo Sanhai said.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted out infrared video of the standoff, explaining it was done without a single shot fired and adding, "Great work by your police!"
Neighbors agreed.
"Police did good job, for the situation," Mandoluh Elzhab said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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