Police storm Ashkelon apartment to end standoff
Man, 40, barricades himself inside with young niece, then demands to meet with Avigdor Liberman and local mayor
Israel's coastal city of Ashkelon (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Police stormed into an apartment in the southern coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon Wednesday to end a standoff with a man who had barricaded himself inside with his four-year-old niece.
Having been called to the scene, police initially tried to negotiate with the man, 40. But when he refused to come out of the home, several members of the police anti-terror unit rappelled from the roof of the building and subdued the man, who was standing on the balcony.
According to local media outlet Ashkelon News, the man seemed unstable and demanded to meet with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Mayor Itamar Shimoni.
An initial police investigation indicated that the man was unarmed and had not threatened to harm the girl.
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