Post date: May 12, 2013 7:5:21 PM
A hostage standoff in New Jersey ends with the shooting death of the gunman, as police release harrowing details of a two week-long captivity for three children that included the deaths of their mother and a 13 year-old sibling.
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (MAY 12, 2013) (NBC) - New Jersey police on Sunday (May 12) released harrowing details of a two-week-long hostage scenario for three children, whose mother and sibling were apparently killed by their captor.
Police say the bodies of a 44-year-old woman identified as Carmelita Stevens and her 13-year-old son were recovered in a deep state of decomposition from herTrenton home after a tense, 36-hour-long standoff with an armed suspect ended in the early morning hours of Sunday.Earlier reports of the standoff suggested that a suspect had taken multiple hostages on Friday (May 10), but details released during a news conference on Sunday revealed that the gunman may have shot his victims as early as April 24 and had held the three children captive since then.
The armed suspect, identified by law enforcement as convicted sex offender Gerald Tyrone Murphy, 38, was shot by police in the final moments of the standoff and later died of his injuries at an area hospital.
"Team members made entry to the upstairs apartment, confronted Murphy, and rescued the three children, ages 18, 16, and 4," said Colonel Joseph Fuentes of theNew Jersey State Police. "Following our entry, a single shot was fired by our entryteam to stop a threatening action against one of the children by Murphy."
The three children were taken to a hospital where they are undergoing evaluation and treatment. Police say they have information that the children may have been restrained, abused and assaulted during the captivity.
The children's 19-year-old brother was discovered alive in the basement shortly after the standoff began and was rescued. He is said to be unharmed.
Police believe the elder brother may have been hiding from the suspect during the two-week-long hostage situation that was taking place on the upper floors of the house.
The standoff began when officers forced their way into the ground floor of Stevens' two-story home, after concerned relatives told police she had not been heard from for a while and that her two daughters had failed to appear in school for 12 days.
Police say the responding officers could immediately detect the smell of human decomposition and noticed maggots throughout the house.
Officers then heard the sound of a male individual coming from an upstairs bedroom, later identified as Murphy, and engaged with him through the closed bedroom door.
"(Murphy) informed the officers that there was a deceased individual in there with him and another deceased individual in the rear bedroom," said the Director of theTrenton Police Department, Ralph Rivera Jr.
Rivera said Murphy told officers he had three children barricaded in the room with him and that he was he was armed with a gun and explosives.
The tense standoff eventually involved at least 60 law enforcement personnel from several agencies including tactical and hostage negotiation teams.
Police will not say if Murphy made any demands during the days-long negotiation with police or what his motive may have been. It's unclear what his relationship was to Stevens.
Gerald Tyrone Murphy has an extensive and violence criminal record that includes child endangerment and an arrest warrant out of Philadelphia for failing to register as a sex offender, according to police.