LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The suspect in a Jeffersonville homicide was arrested early Friday morning after an hourslong standoff with police in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.
The Jeffersontown Police Department and Jeffersonville City Police Department on Friday held a joint press conference to provide new information in relation to the fatal Jeffersonville shooting.
The shooting happened at an apartment in the 800 block of French Street, near East 9th Street, in Jeffersonville just before 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to Jeffersonville police.
Kenny Kavanaugh, with the Jeffersonville City Police Department, said officers responding to the scene of the shooting found a female hiding and screaming for help.Â
Officers then found a man unconscious and unresponsive with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Clark Memorial Hospital where he later died, Kavanaugh said.
Police said the shooting was a result of an argument between family members, and that the suspect, identified as Christian White, of Ohio, got away before officers arrived on the scene. Police said White was a family member of the man he allegedly shot and killed.
Jeffersonville Police later notified Jeffersontown Police that the suspect may be hiding out in the city and to be on the lookout for a red SUV.
Thursday afternoon, police in J'town found the SUV, a 2012 Mercedes, at the Chestnut Ridge Apartments and set up surveillance.Â
According to Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders, officers approached White as he and a woman left an apartment and walked towards the SUV shortly after noon on Thursday. That's when White pulled a gun and ran back into the apartment with the woman, police said.
Jeffersontown Police called the Louisville Metro Police Department to the scene for backup, as well as SWAT and the Hostage Negotiation Team. Sanders said nearly 60 police officers responded to the scene.
Once inside the apartment, White called police and told him that he had hostages — the woman he was seen with outside as well as another woman and her 2-year-old child who police believe lived in the apartment — and that he had just gotten out of prison and would "not go back alive."
Sanders said members of SWAT and the Hostage Negotiation Team stayed in communication with White throughout the day and early Friday morning. Around midnight Friday, officers convinced White to release the child. Then around 2 a.m., Sanders said, they got him to release the child's mother.
White, police said, made several calls to officers and the Hostage Negotiation Team. Sanders said the calls varied and he made demands, which included talking to family members from northern Ohio, who were brought in by police.
Around 5:50 a.m. Friday, gas was released into the apartment, forcing White and the other woman he had held hostage outside. Sanders said White was apprehended without incident and turned over to Jeffersonville police, who say White has a long criminal history.
"This was a very, very volatile situation," Kavanaugh said. "He made the phone call and informed us who he had. He had a 2-year-old child in there, that drew grave concern in what we had."
Kavanaugh said police will be presenting murder charges to Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull. He also said the department would be serving "several" search warrants Friday in relation to the investigation, but didn't elaborate further.
This story may be updated.
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