An ex-con suspected in two homicides is in custody after a four hour standoff with police.
It was after 1:00 p.m. Sunday when police got the call about a barricaded gunman at the East Village Inn near downtown Flint. Witnesses told police a female hostage was being held by a man. People in the area were evacuated and all nearby streets blocked catching area residents off guard. U-M Flint students were even warned about the dangers through text messages and phone calls.
Resident Shawn Wharton says, " I actually got a phone call about it, and I had no idea. I was upstairs watching football."
According to police, Marcus Darnell Lanes, a man suspected in two homicides on Saturday at the Clovertree Apartments, was believed to be behind the standoff.
Saturday, police found the bodies of 78-year-old Charles Woodson and 53-year-old Phyllis Woodson at the Clovertree Apartments. Investigators were looking for Lanes when he allegedly took a hostage and barricaded himself at the East Village Inn.
Fortunately, Sunday's four-hour standoff ended without incident. Lanes is now in the custody of Flint Township police.
NBC25 did some research and discovered that Lanes has a criminal history. According to the Offender Tracking Information System, Lanes served two years in prison for trying to make or obtain an illegal weapon in 1986. Then, in 1996, he was convicted of several armed and unarmed robbery and weapons charges. He was sentenced to 10 - 20 years in prison, and he was paroled in April of this year.
Anyone with more inforamation on the homicide at the Clovertree Apartments or the standoff at the East Village Inn is asked to call police at 810-600-3250.
