Update at 5:05 p.m. — The barricade situation has ended peacefully.
Earlier: A man who may be suicidal has barricaded himself in his Courthouse townhouse, leading to a standoff with police.
The incident started between 3:00 and 4:00 this afternoon when the man’s girlfriend told police that he made remarks suggesting he may be contemplating suicide. Police responded to the scene and tried to get the man to come out of the house. Reached by phone, he told police that they’d “have to come get him,” according to scanner traffic.
Police backed off and have surrounded the townhouse complex, which is located across the street from the Courtland Towers apartment building. At one point, the man reportedly ran out of the house and then ran back in when confronted by officers. Police negotiators are now trying to talk the man out of the house again.
N. Wayne Street is closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic between 13th Street and the Fairfax Drive pedestrian path as a result of the standoff. Residents of the townhouse complex are so far not being allowed back in their homes.
“We’re taking all precautions,” said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.