Fairbanks

Police: Suicidal man in Fairbanks detained after standoff

Update, 5 p.m. Monday:

Police in Fairbanks say they've detained a suicidal man who was parked in a vehicle with a woman for hours outside the town's only public hospital.

Fairbanks police negotiated with the armed man for several hours until shortly after 4 p.m. Monday. Police spokeswoman Yumi McCulloch says the man and woman got out of the vehicle and were apprehended by officers in the parking lot of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Their names were not immediately disclosed.

McCulloch says no one was injured in the incident. She says the woman is safe.

McCulloch says the man was taken inside the hospital and is being assessed by hospital staff and police. She says the woman is being interviewed by officers.

During the standoff, exterior entrances at nearby schools were locked.

Fairbanks Memorial is the only hospital for the general public in the city of almost 32,000. There is also a military hospital in the area.

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Original story:

Police in Fairbanks say they're negotiating Monday with a suicidal man parked in a vehicle with a woman outside a city's only public hospital.

Fairbanks police won't say if the woman is being held against her will in the parking lot of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. It is the only hospital for the general public in the city of almost 32,000.

Police spokeswoman Yumi McCulloch says the man in the vehicle has a gun.

McCulloch says locals are being asked to avoid the usual entrance to the emergency room and to enter through the surgery center entrance instead.

Exterior entrances at nearby schools were locked during the incident, according to Sharice Walker, a spokeswoman for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

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