A police SWAT team surrounded a townhouse in the 1200 block of North Broad Street Monday afternoon after a 12-year-old boy locked himself inside after telling his mother he had a gun.
Police told Channel 4's Jim Piggott that the boy barricaded himself inside a unit of Centennial Townhomes West just before 1 p.m. The boy's mother told police the two were arguing over where they had to live.
"He became angry and he has been diagnosed, as I said earlier, with behavior problems," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Ken Jefferson said. "He went and locked himself in the bathroom and told his mother he had had a gun. She did the right thing by calling police and getting out of there."
Streets around the downtown complex were closed by the police activity and residents are unable to get into their units. Police could be heard talking with a bullhorn trying to communicate with the boy.
"He would repeat that we should leave or he would shoot police," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Dwain Senterfitt said.
At one point the boy set fire to a towel and threw it out of the apartment, setting some bushes outside on fire.
"With that kind of activity going, we were really concerned he might set this building on fire, so we went ahead and moved in," Senterfitt said. "(We) were able to introduce a little bit of some gas, which coaxed him to come on out."
There was no immediate indicate he had a gun, but police were searching the apartment to make sure. The boy was taken into custody, but what charges would be filed against him were not clear.
Children getting out of neighboring schools were kept away during the incident. Just after 4:30 p.m., the standoff ended and people were allowed back into the complex.
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