SWAT TEAM ENDS SIEGE
No injuries as suspect taken into custody following robbery at CVS store
The first SWAT members to arrive on the scene prepare to enter the CVS in Media late Thursday during a standoff with an armed robbery suspect. The siege ended with no injuries and the suspect in custody.
MEDIA >> An attempted armed robbery turned hours-long standoff with a barricaded man at a CVS drug store on Baltimore Pike ended peacefully Wednesday night.
Police said Kwesi Hudson, 46, of Wilmington, Del., in ski mask and black clothes entered through the main entrance of the CVS at 295 E. Baltimore Ave., pointing a gun and demanding cash from employees. The store was set to close in 10 minutes.
Before being forced by the gunman into the bathroom, one hostage was able to call police. Police, located a half mile from the scene of the crime, responded immediately.
In trying to escape, police said, Hudson was met by officers first at the rear exit by the loading dock. He returned inside to find officers from additional police departments that had converged on the store guarding the front entrance. After a brief confrontation Hudson then fled to a second floor stockroom, dropping the bag the process.
It was then that police officers were able find and free the employees locked into the bathroom and escorted them safely from the building. However, at that time, Hudson refused to surrender, police said.
The Central Delco Tactical Response Team was called in around 10:03 p.m. where they conducted an operation a robot to find the suspect, and an hour of negotiations to end the barricade peacefully.
Following the hour and a half standoff, Hudson had been completely surrounded. More than two dozen fully equipped SWAT officers filed into the rear entrance with riot shields, assault rifles and full tactical gear. of money in
Outside, officers armed with scoped semi-automatic rifles were helped onto the roof of the Media Real Estate Co. that sits adjacent to the CVS on Baltimore Pike between Radnor Street and South Edgmont Street by use of the Media Fire Co. Hook & Ladder.
Other officers were stationed on the roof of the Media Medical Plaza, while watchful eyes of the citizenry were kept a blocks away in a radius around the CVS.
A state trooper said it was Central Delco TRT used the robot to locate the hiding suspect that he realized he was totally outnumbered and facing insurmountable odds.
Hudson surrendered without incident.
Hudson has a “lengthy” criminal history, according to a release from Media police, that includes robbery and firearms violations.
According to news reports online, Hudson had been sentenced to 20 years in jail for a 1997 robbery of a Woodbury, N.J., Blockbuster Video store, using strikingly similar methods.
STANDOFF >> PAGE 5