Man arrested after 7-hour long SWAT standoff in West Palm Beach apartment

By Jade Jarvis

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — A man is now in police custody after the West Palm Beach Police Department responded to a barricaded individual Monday afternoon.

The West Palm Beach Police Department confirmed to WPBF 25 News that around 1 p.m., its detectives attempted to serve an arrest warrant for 49-year-old James Gerald Parker in the Fairway Vista Apartment Complex on Brandywine Road.

Police said Parker was wanted on charges of sexual battery, felony battery, false imprisonment, and aggravated stalking after a woman he had a previous relationship with reported him to police on November 29.

Police attempted to serve Parker with that warrant Monday.

“Parker made it clear that he did not want to come out. He did also make he also made it clear that he didn’t want to come out alive. So at that point, our game plan was to not give him what he wanted and to get him out here peacefully,” Mike Jachles, the West Palm Beach Police Department Public Information Officer, said.

Jachles said neighbors and friends tried to coax Parker out via phone calls, along with hostage negotiators, but it didn’t work.

“Then it came a point in time where you know he wasn’t coming out on his own so we had to affect that. And that involves deploying gas tear gas in there to try and disrupt him and bring him out,” Jachles said.

Some school bus routes in the area were diverted from the area, and parents were notified of the change in bus routes.

During the standoff, police had to evacuate Parker’s immediate neighbors and place the building on lockdown.

Brandywine Road, where the complex is located, was lined with cars belonging to residents who had to park on the sides of the road and walk to get into their homes.

Ultimately, the standoff ended peacefully. Police said there were no shots fired and parker was taken into custody without further incident.

Parker is no stranger to the justice system, he has a long rap sheet and is a convicted felon. Some of his previous charges include felony battery, domestic battery by strangulation, and resisting an officer without violence.

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