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Suspect Surrenders to Police in Fayetteville Standoff

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FAYETTEVILLE — Police negotiators in Fayetteville played out a waiting game with a gunman who was holding a hostage Tuesday night. Police closed a portion of Bragg Boulevard for almost three hours. Businesses nearby were cleared out and people were warned to stay away.

Police were called to the Custom Skin Fantasies Tattoo shop on Bragg Boulevard just after 6 p.m. A woman at the shop was taken hostage by her estranged husband.

Police say Phil Hicks was armed with a shotgun and had access to other weapons.

"One of the guys in there has three other weapons in there, so I don't know what the possibility of him knowing where the weapons are, are, but the weapons are in there," said employee Kerry Lawing.

Police talked with Hicks on the phone for two hours before he finally let his wife, Amy, go. Workers at the tattoo shop say Hicks had threatened to kill his wife just yesterday.

"He said 'I will be back tomorrow, and you will die tomorrow.' And now this is what's happening," said another employee of the tattoo shop.

Hicks surrendered to police just before 9 p.m.

"We had some hostage negotiators who have been having communications with him throughout the situation since it developed. They were able to talk him into surrendering himself," said Lt. Katherine Bryant of the Fayetteville Police Department.

Hicks is facing several charges including kidnapping and assault charges.

Friends of Amy Hicks say she recently filed for divorce from the man who held her hostage.

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