Apr 16, 2019 2 min read

A man surrendered peacefully Tuesday following a standoff with police at an apartment building in Canton Township.

State police are not releasing the name of the man who was involved in the apparent hostage situation that brought police to the area of the Belvedere Acres complex. The standoff lasted for roughly two hours before the 52-year-old submitted to police at about 3:30 p.m.

“At one point, we were able to make contact with the individuals inside, opened up a line of discussion, and the hostage, the female hostage, was eventually released,” said Trooper Forrest Allison, a spokesman for state police. “Additional conversation took place and (the man) came out into the hallway where he was taken into custody.”

No one was injured. No charges have been filed so far.

“I believe that it was a domestic situation,” Allison said. “I think (the hostage) was the wife.”

Allison said troopers initially responded before an agency Special Emergency Response Team joined them. For much of the afternoon, police in tactical gear arrived at a staging area around a bend from Bel Air Drive, on which the Belvedere complex is located, before proceeding on foot.

The original report that state police received indicated the man was armed. Allison said the agency hadn’t confirmed that.

Route 40 was closed from The Road to Weirich Avenue Extension for the duration of the events there.

“Initially we just rerouted traffic, and we were able to evacuate some of the residents in the area,” Allison said. “Some people at the apartment building were too close (for evacuation). We just made sure they stayed in a place of safety.”