*This story has been updated.
Around mid-afternoon, a man barricaded himself in a room on the 15th floor of the Omni Hotel in Shockoe Slip. Police quickly surrounded the hotel after the man busted out one of the double-sided windows in the room. According to CBS 6, the man wrote “help” on a directory page, which fell out of the open window.
RVA Mag arrived on the scene shortly after to find the police engaged in negotiations with the man. An RPD spokeswoman would only confirm that the man had barricaded himself in the room and crisis negotiators were currently involved. The busted window could be seen from the street with scattered pages surrounding the opening. When asked what he broke the window with the RPD spokeswoman said she was not aware.
Another source at the scene indicated that the man had potentially flooded his room, water could be seen staining the outside surface of the rooms below where he was barricaded.
*At 3:55pm Richmond Police Department announced via Twitter that the man is now in police custody, “safe and unharmed”.
Sarafina Sackey contributed to this report.
