A tense standoff at an apartment complex in Ewing Township, NJ ended almost eight hours after it began, according to police. Investigators believe the whole thing started with a fight over a parking spot.
"Was this guy disturbed about something else going on in his life?" asked neighbor Stanley Patterson. "Was it really a parking spot? I mean, a parking spot?"
Police say that 50-year-old Wayne Voorhees shot and killed Timothy Rivella, 24, and then barricaded himself inside the complex. Voorhees is currently in intensive care and listed in serious condition.
SWAT officers from three different counties were on the scene Thursday around 12:30 p.m. at the Versailles Apartment Complex on Lower Ferry Road and Sullivan Way after receiving a report that shots were fired.
Voorhees allegedly shot Rivella, who was found lying on the ground in the parking lot of the complex. Rivella later died from his wounds.
The manager of the Versailles, Ray Albertson, said the three complexes on the property were in lockdown for several hours before police evacuated residents and took them to another location.
The suspect was inside the complex, but investigators were unable to communicate with him. State police say that the suspect's family was also brought on the scene to make contact but to no avail.
Police eventually used tear gas to get inside the building around 7:45 p.m.
"Upon going in there the suspect was found on the floor with an injury which appeared to be a gunshot wound and at this point, its likely to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said Lt. Stephen Jones of the NJ State Police.
Voorhees is expected to survive.
Police say that both the suspect and the victim were residents of the apartment.
Early Friday, investigators search the suspect's apartment and recpvered three shotguns, a riffle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
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