PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A man experiencing a mental health crisis was taken into custody Friday night after police said he was barricaded inside a Port St. Lucie home with his 8-year-old son for about seven hours.
Crisis negotiators and a SWAT team responded to the home in the 900 block of Southwest Jaslo Avenue.
Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc said the situation started when they received a call from the man's wife saying he had purchased a gun and was threatening to harm himself.
Bolduc said at the time the man's wife was seeing a judge to get an ex parte custody order. In Florida, this grants temporary custody of a child to one parent without the other parent's input or consent.
Police said the judge also issued an order to have the woman's husband taken into custody to be evaluated under the Baker Act.
Bolduc said they were eventually able to get the man, whose name has not been released, to safely release the child unharmed after the boy's mother arrived at the home.
The SWAT team later breached the residence, and the man surrendered and was taken into custody.
"It ended peacefully. I'm really happy about that," Bolduc said. "It took us the better part of seven hours to resolve it, but everybody is safe."
Police said Friday night they were still in the process of figuring out whether or not the man ever had a gun.
"Initially, we don't see a gun," Bolduc said. "He might have been lying about that."
Police said the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office also responded to the scene to provide assistance.
