Hunt Chat - SWAT busts down another door

Uptown hostage situation ends when SWAT barges in

UPTOWN -- New Orleans Police were called to the 2000 block of Prytania Street just after 3:30 Wednesday.

Officers say when they arrived 38-year-old William Smith told them he had a gun, he was not coming out and he was going to kill his 28 year old girlfriend. Police say at that time they called out the SWAT team and police negotiators. During the negotiation, Sargeant Paul Accardo says officers could hear the woman shouting for help.

Shortly before 6:00 pm, SWAT members through a distraction device through the back window and barged in the front door of the 2nd floor apartment, next to Zara's Grocery. Officers say Smith attacked the SWAT officers and had to be subdued. Police escorted the girlfriend out of the apartment to a waiting ambulance. They say Smith was beating her with his fists and a stick and throwing her into walls during the ordeal.

Smith came out of the building in handcuffs with a face bloodied from his confrontation with the SWAT team. He was taken to Charity Hospital for treatment, but will be booked with battery, resisting arrest and false imprisonment. Police say he has a history of domestic violence in California; but, no domestic violence arrests in Louisiana.

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