2 in custody after standoff at Idaho Falls hotel
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - UPDATE 5:00 p.m. Idaho Falls police officers responded to the Hilton Garden Inn shortly after noon Friday for a report of a disturbance involving guests in one of the rooms at the hotel.
Officers arrived and made contact with one of the people involved, a woman, after knocking on the hotel room door. The woman made a statement to officers that she was armed with a firearm and had a hostage.
Officers immediately took steps to secure the area, evacuate rooms immediately surrounding (including those above and below) the room in question, and called out additional police resources.
Personnel from patrol, SWAT, and our Crisis Negotiations Team responded.
Officers with the Crisis Negotiations team were able to communicate with the woman at various points during the incident, which lasted approximately four hours.
During this time, the woman refused to exit the room.
At one point officers broke a window in order to deploy gas into the room, which acts as an irritant and is used to encourage people to exit.
Police say when the window was breached, some people in the area at the time mistook the sound for gunfire. Official say at no time during the incident were shots fired by Idaho Falls Police Officers, and they do not have any evidence at this time that any shots were fired by the people involved in the incident either.
A while after this point, and after continued communication between the woman and Crisis Negotiators, both occupants of the room exited and were safely taken into police custody.
No one was injured during this incident.
Both occupants of the room were or are being evaluated by medical professionals due to exposure to the gas irritant as a precaution.
Officers are continuing to investigate the incident, including the statements made by the woman regarding the firearm and having a hostage.
Additional updates will be provided when that portion of the investigation concludes.
Officers have cleared the scene at this time, and people are free to come and go from the hotel and the surrounding area.
The Idaho Falls Fire Department responded and remained on standby through out most of the incident as a precaution. The Chaplains of Idaho also responded to provide support to officers on scene as well.
ORIGINAL: Idaho Falls police say as incident started Friday around noon with a call about disturbance in the Hilton Garden Inn off Lindsay Boulevard.
The first officers who arrived were able to to talk to the suspect, and because of some of the things they said, they requested backup and the SWAT team.
Police say the SWAT team did break out some windows to get access to the area where the suspect is and are trying to negotiate with them.
The area inside of the hotel is blocked off, but the whole building is not evacuated.
