A hostage situation ended peacefully on Friday afternoon following a four-hour standoff in southeast Cape Coral.
According to police spokeswoman Connie Barron, there were two people involved in the stand off, a female hostage, and a male hostage taker.
David A. Stuckey, 45, of 5100 Williams Drive, Fort Myers Beach, voluntarily released the woman and was taken into police custody without further incident, Barron said. He was being questioned at Cape Coral police headquarters Friday evening.
The hostage’s name was not released and it was unknown what type of weapons, if any, were involved.
The situation began at roughly 2:47 p.m., according to Barron, as Cape Coral police responded to a third-party domestic disturbance call at 1511 S.E. 24th Ave.
“It was a call from a female, saying that she was being held against her will at the duplex,” Barron said. “For whatever reason she was able to leave, and called 911 to report another woman was being held.”
The name of the caller was not going to be released, according to Barron.
After it was identified as a hostage situation, Cape Police and Lee County Sheriffs responded in force.
SWAT teams and mobile command units from both departments took over the scene, calling in sniper and bomb squad teams from the LCSO.
Connie Barron said that “some” of Cape Coral’s snipers were unavailable, so they called in the LCSO to supplement their numbers.
Once LCSO was called, the situation became theirs.
“It became the LCSO’s job after their tactical unit was called in,” Barron added.
He has no prior local charges, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Web site. Barron was unable to say whether there were past domestic disturbance calls at the Cape Coral address.
Neighbors from Southeast 24th Avenue and the surrounding streets poured out to watch the situation unfold.
Daniel Hammock, who lives on street over on Southest 23rd, was happy that things ended peacefully, and that law enforcement responded as they did.
“It’s never enough,” Hammock said of the large police presence. “You don’t know what’s inside the house. I think their response, and the way they handled the public, was great.”
Kimbra Connor, who lives along Southeast 24th Avenue was not surprised by Friday’s events at all. She said the street is often home to violence.
“This is not an isolated thing,” Connor said. “There was 15 gun shots in front of my house just the other night.”
Connie Barron said more information would likely be available Saturday.