New Jersey police say that the standoff with an armed man in Trenton ended on Sunday and the three children he was holding hostage are safe.
The suspect, Gerald Tyrone Murphy, who was holed up in a Trenton building for 37 hours with the children, was shot and killed, New Jersey State Police Colonel Rick Fuentes said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
The bodies of Carmelita Stevens, 44, who is said to be Murphy’s girlfriend and her teenage son were found in the home where he was holed up.
On Friday, when police checked on residents at the address, they found the two bodies, prompting Murphy to hole up in a room with the children. Police went to the home after Stevens’ son said he had not seen her since late April.
Reports said the children had not been at school in 12 days.
Stevens’ body was in an “advanced state of decomposition,” Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera told USA Today, meaning that she was likely killed several weeks ago.
During the hostage negotiations, Murphy said he had a gun and explosives.
“The dialogue and the negotiation between the negotiators and Mr. Murphy was frequent and often, and there were times that he was upset by the tone of his voice and his comments,” Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said, according to the paper.
Family members said the three children, aged 4 to 17, were being held inside the home, reported NJ.com. Sources told the website that Stevens and the other child were killed by Murphy.
Stevens and her children were living with Murphy, who was a registered sex offender, for less than two months, family members told the site.
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