Trenton Hostage Standoff Ends, Children Are Safe

New Jersey State Police say the hostage situation in Trenton has come to an end and that the three children who were being held are safe.

On Friday, May 10, a man, whose identity has not been released, took several people hostages and barricaded himself in a home in south Trenton, N.J. Police responded to reports that a man had barricaded himself in the home sometime before 3 p.m. Authorities tried to negotiate the safe release of the captives held in the brick house for three days.

While state police said they were working to bring the "ongoing, tense situation … to a peaceful end," members of one of the hostage’s family climbed under the police tape and confronted officers about the situation. A man who said he was one of the hostage’s nephew screamed "Do something! Do something! Make something happen!" Authorities said that when police entered the home they found the man brandishing a gun and retreated. The police order the evacuation of the homes on the surrounding block and called in a SWAT team and an arson bomb unit. Police also used a robot to enter the home. The police did not announce whether the gunman had made any demands.

In a joint statement from Trenton police and county prosecutors, Sgt. Adam Grossman said that the area is secure. The officer said that details about the standoff, including how it ended, any information on the children and what happened to the gunman, will be announced at a news conference later today. But neighbors identified the gunman as Gerald “Skip” Murphy who briefly shared that home with Carmen Kelly, 42, and her 13-year-old son, two people he allegedly killed. A neighbor said Murphy had recently quit his job assembling women’s makeup kits and had been drinking heavily, but was looking forward to starting a new job as a security guard.