Hostage negotiators worked for over five hours to de-escalate the situation, Sheriff's Office says
A nearly six-hour standoff at an East U.S. Highway 192 extended-stay hotel ended early Monday evening with a man in jail, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office officials have said.
Mark Anthony Vazquez, 49, was arrested around 5:45 p.m. Monday. According to the Osceola County Jail he’s been booked and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and failure to register as a sex offender.
The hostage situation began just before noon, when the Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding to a domestic situation at The Heritage Park Inn along 192 just west of the Kissimmee Florida’s Turnpike interchange, where two men got into a physical altercation in a room and the suspect threatened to harm the other man, Sheriff’s spokesperson Kim Montes said.
The victim, a 52-year-old man, was physically restrained by the suspect by binding his hands and feet in a chair on Sunday night and beat him repeatedly and cut him with a knife. After convincing Vazquez to leave the room, the victim fled to the Heritage Park Inn lobby and called 911. He was taken to Osceola Regional Hospital, was treated and released with visible injuries.
After the male victim left the room, police say Vazquez took a 74-year-old woman hostage in the room, refusing to let her leave. Hostage negotiators worked for over five hours to de-escalate the situation.
Once the suspect requested a wheelchair for the woman and a pizza, which were delivered to the front of the room, SWAT teams from Osceola and Orange County used a long-range acoustic device which emitted an amplified sound to reach the suspect, directing Vazquez to surrender. After several minutes, Vazquez opened the door, and the woman was helped into the wheelchair as Vazquez surrendered to deputies without incident.
Sheriff's deputies continue to investigate the incident.
