Wounded man puts gun to his head, prompting shutdown, standoff outside Mobile government building

Published 12:29 pm Monday, October 31, 2022

Multiple police officers with weapons drawn surrounded a vehicle parked outside a government building in downtown Mobile, Alabama, in a standoff that lasted more than two hours Monday.

Katrina Frazier, a police spokeswoman, told reporters that a man with a gunshot wound was spotted in a parked car outside Government Plaza, which contains multiple Mobile County offices and courts. She said the man pointed a gun at his head when officers approached to see if he needed help, al.com reported.

“Officers backed away from the scene and we called in the SWAT teams and a negotiator,” said Frazier. It wasn’t clear whether the man shot himself or was shot by someone else.

Photos and video from the scene showed dozens of officers pointing handguns and rifles toward a car parked along a curb.

A main road through the city was blocked, as was a tunnel that passes under the Mobile River leading out of the city.