Neighbor Wants Gunman to Come Out Alive

Alexandra Roth arrived home Tuesday night to find police still had her City of Falls Church block barricaded.

Roth said she talked with her neighbor over the fence often. That neighbor is the alleged armed man at the center of a standoff that has dragged on for more than 24 hours. Roth said he is a nice man.

“I want him to get out alive,” Roth said. “This is a life-or-death situation.”

SWAT officers, a Fairfax County bomb squad and several officers from the City of Falls Church, Alexandria and Arlington County are . Police negotiators regained contact with the man after he went silent around 4 p.m., said Susan Finarelli, spokeswoman for the city. Police fired several rounds of tear gas into his home and he quickly called police back, she said.

Police escorted some residents to their homes earlier in the day to retrieve medicines and clothes to take with them. Some, like Kuntheavy Oum, stayed with family Monday and Tuesday nights.

Oum, who has lived on Hillwood Avenue since 1983, said the standoff has forced her to stay with her son until the situation is rectified.

“I’m so scared,” she said.

Police still have not released the alleged armed man’s identity.

More on this story: 

Earlier stories:

 (posted Monday night)

 (Tuesday Morning)

 (Tuesday morning)

 (Tuesday mid-day)

(Tuesday afternoon)