A man was found dead Thursday morning after an eight-hour hostage-involved standoff with Tulsa police, authorities said.
Terrance Moses, 31, was found dead with a gunshot wound just after 10:30 a.m., when a police robotic rover entered his home at the Brandy Chase Condominiums near 67th Street and Peoria Avenue, police said.
Authorities believe that Moses kidnapped his ex-wife from Rogers County on Wednesday afternoon and took her to his home.
Negotiations for her release failed, and a police Special Operations Team pulled her out unharmed about five hours into the standoff, Capt. Ryan Perkins said.
"This was a full-scale hostage situation," he said. "This is what we train for, what we prepare for -- something we hope we'll never have to do."
Police officers arrived at the condominiums about 2 a.m. after receiving a tip from the Rogers County Sheriff's Office. After hours of negotiations on the phone in which Moses repeatedly agreed to release the hostage but never did, officers heard screams and gunfire inside, Officer Leland Ashley said.
About six Special Operations Team members entered the unit about 6:45 a.m., and someone immediately opened fire, Perkins said. Officers pulled the woman out the front door but did not return fire because they could not see who was shooting, he said.
No officers were injured.
"We were lucky," said Perkins, who commands the Special Operations Team. "There were a lot of shots fired inside that residence."
The woman, identified as Sykeo Xiong, 22, told police that she was trying to wrestle the gun away from Moses when he accidentally shot himself in the stomach, Perkins said.
Moses remained inside the apartment after police rescued Xiong. The robotic rover, which is remotely controlled and equipped with cameras, was sent inside just before 10:30 a.m. and found Moses dead.
"We were trying to resolve the situation as peacefully as possible, but as you can see, it didn't turn exactly as we hoped," Ashley said.
Xiong had called her family Wednesday night to tell them that Moses was holding her at gunpoint, Perkins said.
The family told police that Moses went to a house near Oologah about 2 p.m. Wednesday to talk to Xiong about their former relationship but became angry when she refused to speak with him, Perkins said.
Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said Xiong's sister saw them arguing in the front yard, lost track of them and reported her missing shortly after 9 p.m., he said.
Sheriff's deputies traced Xiong's cell phone to the area of the condominiums late Wednesday and alerted Tulsa police, who searched the area and found Moses' vehicle there.
Court records show that Moses and Xiong were married in June 2010. Their divorce was granted in October. In those records, his first name is spelled Terence.
Another woman, described as Moses' current girlfriend, left Moses' condominium of her own will about 5:45 a.m. Thursday, police said.
She appeared to have been staying at the apartment and was not considered a hostage, they said.
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
