UPDATE: The suspect has been charged with several counts of attempted homicide after police said he opened fire on SWAT officers. Read the latest update here.
A Christmas miracle occurred in Chester County, Pennsylvania, when an allegedly armed gunman barricaded inside a home for hours finally gave up early Wednesday.
The suspect surrendered because a SWAT team negotiator sang a Christmas carol to him, according to the country district attorney, who, get this, was at the all-night scene handing out Christmas cookies.
"I brought Christmas cookies for some cold and tired SWAT team members," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a Facebook post later Wednesday. "This being SWAT, they ate the cookies, made fun of each other, and went home to their families, quietly satisfied with a job well done."
Hogan did not return a message left for further details.
He did add in the Facebook post that the ending to the roughly nine-hour barricade situation in East Vincent Township, which began about 9 p.m. Tuesday, left him in wonder.
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"Over a long and cold night, they kept negotiating with the man, who eventually started shooting at the police and around the neighborhood. A SWAT negotiator finally talked him into surrendering at 6:00 a.m. this morning by singing a Christmas carol for him," Hogan said on Facebook. "You can’t make this stuff up."