Hostage situation ends peacefully

A hostage situation and brief standoff with Yuma police ended peacefully Wednesday morning, with the victim unharmed.

Sgt. Clint Norred, a spokesman for the Yuma Police Department, said police received a call from a third party at about 9:24 a.m. about an armed man who had restrained his elderly mother in their home in the 800 block of South 10th Avenue.

“(The third-party) did not come to the location. They reported it to us,” Norred said. “They must have had some sort of conversation with the suspect.”

A large number of officers responded to the call, including the police department’s Special Response Team and secured the area in a three-block radius. O.C. Johnson School was also locked down for about 10 minutes.

“Our response was obviously large because of the factors involved, and some of those factors certainly were there, but it was more of a precaution than maybe a reality,” Norred said afterward. “We get a report that (the suspect) has restrained his mom and is potentially armed, so we react in the context of that situation.”

Officers with YPD’s Hostage Negotiation Team also responded to the scene and contacted the suspect, identified as 63-year-old Robert Hockman, by phone. After about 15 to 20 minutes talking with negotiators, Hockman voluntarily came out of the house and was taken into custody without incident.

Norred said Hockman’s mother was found unharmed inside the home. She was treated on the scene by Yuma Fire Department paramedics for a pre-existing medical condition before being taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center.

Firearms found inside the residence were confiscated by police.

Norred said Hockman was taken to YRMC for a mental evaluation, and the case will be forwarded to the Yuma County Attorney’s Office for review as an aggravated assault per domestic violence.

JJames Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.