UPDATED: Newark ‘Standoff’ Between Cops, Barricaded Man Ends

NEWARK, NJ — A standoff between Newark police and a man barricaded inside an apartment building on Clinton Place continued until Friday – more than 24 hours since the incident began, authorities said.

According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the standoff began when detectives were executing a search warrant around 6 a.m. at the building, with assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office entry team.

A preliminary investigation indicates someone inside the residence fired shots at law enforcement, authorities said.

“At the time law enforcement entered the multi-family structure some residents were detained for identification and subsequently released,” Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens said Thursday afternoon.

“To be clear, no one is presently in custody,” Stephens said.

Out of an “abundance of caution,” some area residents were asked to evacuate their homes. There were no injuries to residents or officers, prosecutors said.

The standoff continued throughout the night, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office told Patch on Friday morning.

During a news conference on Friday afternoon, authorities confirmed the standoff ended with a man in custody, and that the incident began while police were executing a narcotics-related search warrant.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office released the following update, which included the identity of the suspect, Hassan Grimsley, 42, of Newark.

"On Thursday morning, detectives from the Essex County Narcotics Task Force, which includes detectives from Newark and throughout Essex County, were executing a warrant just before 6 a.m. at Grimsley’s Clinton Place home in the City of Newark with assistance from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office entry team. Someone in the residence where Grimsley lived fired shots at law enforcement. Officers took cover, evacuated residents in the other apartments, and evacuated the residents in the two adjacent homes. Yesterday, as the events were unfolding at least eight people were relocated either with other family members or at hotels. The search warrants were being executed as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation that began in May."

Prosecutors continued:

"For more than 30 hours, law enforcement from various agencies were in constant communications with the suspect urging him to surrender. He refused. In addition to law enforcement, mental health professionals, friends, family members and neighbors tried to convince the suspect, who had numerous guns, to come out. At approximately, 12:55 p.m. today, Friday, July 9, officers engaged the suspect initially utilizing less lethal force and were met with deadly force from Grimsley who shot at the officers. The officers returned fire, hitting Grimsley. He is currently at University Hospital. His condition is unknown at this time. None of the officers were injured. No civilians were injured."

"I am confident that everything possible was done to bring this situation to a non-fatal conclusion," Stephens said. "This was done despite the stated wishes of the suspect that the police kill him because he was not going back to jail."

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