Responding to a reported robbery at a Wells Fargo bank in the city’s Clarendon neighborhood around 3.00pm on Tuesday, Arlington County police surrounded the Wells Fargo bank on Washington Boulevard.
According to the Arlington County Police Department, ‘the suspect entered the bank, implied he had a weapon and demanded money. The suspect remains barricaded inside the bank with patrons/employees.’
Photos and videos of the scene showed a massive police presence as they responded with a hostage negotiator, snipers, SWAT teams, and dogs.
After a standoff lasting more than an hour, the suspect was taken into police custody around 4.36pm.
The five hostages were safely escorted out of the bank with no injuries.
They were identified as four adults and one child.
The group included patrons and employees of the bank. No injuries were reported.
The husband of one of the hostages said minutes after he dropped off his wife at the bank with their 3-year-old daughter, he received frantic calls.
‘She called me ten times and when I picked up the phone, she said a criminal is there, call police,’ Jean Paul said.
A hostage negotiator responded to the standoff, and officers holding shields could be seen.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing, the Arlington County Police Department said.
The incident happened only a day after a gunman killed five employees at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky.
