By LAUREN FRAYER
Associated Press Writer
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An armed man who held his 9-year-old son hostage for 20 hours was killed Wednesday after police said he came out from his home and threatened officers with a gun. The boy was not harmed.
Officers opened fire on Lewis Barber, 48, when he emerged. Barber did not shoot. Police then stormed the house and found the boy. Barber was pronounced dead about an hour later at a hospital.
“The child is fine,” said Capt. John Crawford, a spokesman for the Alexandria Police Department.
“When you come out of a house armed with a handgun, we don’t have the luxury of waiting to see if you’re acting irrationally or if you’re going to pull that trigger,” Crawford said.
The standoff began Tuesday night, police said, when Barber abducted the boy at gunpoint as the boy and his mother left a restaurant. Barber took the youngster to the family home and kept police at bay.
Police said Barber’s estranged wife, Robin, and son had moved out of the home on Saturday.
Robin Barber had filed a protective order against Barber on Friday, contending he had a drinking problem and had several guns, and she was worried about her safety.
Lewis Barber filed a motion Tuesday in which he said all his weapons were Civil War re-enactment pieces. He also denied that he had a drinking problem.