TAMPA, Fla. — A 21 hour standoff at the Rodeway Inn near I-4 in Tampa hotel ended Friday, with a suspect taken into custody.
What You Need To Know
- Standoff at Rodeway Inn ends with surrender
- Renaldo Bucklon was taken into custody by Tampa police after 21 hours
- Part of the motel was evacuated during standoff
- Police said they used new training to help keep everyone in area "unscathed"
The suspect, Renardo Bucklon, appeared to have non-life-threatening injuries, according to authorities.
The standoff started Thursday with a physical altercation. Officers arrived and found Bucklon barricaded in a motel room, police said.
At one point, police approached and got close to the door, but police said Bucklon shot at them. They twice shot chemical irritants into the room rather than opening fire, police said.
Once officers managed to get inside the room, police said Bucklon shot at them again and they did return fire. Eventually, Bucklon surrendered, police said.
“We did everything that we possibly could to make sure that Mr. Bucklon and the surrounding citizens and our officers came out of here unscathed,” Maj. Eric DeFelice of the Tampa Police Department said. “We employed everything that we’ve been taught in the training that we’ve recently had and made sure that time was on our side and to do everything we could to make sure it was a peaceful resolution.”
A portion of the motel had to be evacuated during the standoff.
Police said Bucklon has an extensive criminal history spanning almost 30 years.