MELBOURNE, Fla. — A 5-hour standoff in Brevard County ended peacefully Friday night with police arresting a man who was wanted in connection to a murder.
Police surrounded the Summerset Apartments on Solstice Street in Melbourne Friday evening.
The apartment complex is just four miles away from where police found a man's body on Footridge Road early Friday morning.
A wheelchair-bound man, 45-year-old Gordon Brown, who was known to his neighbors as "Smokey," was found murdered in a mobile home at the Eau Gallie Estates Friday morning.
By 3:00pm Friday, police had tracked down the suspect, 28-year-old Richard Pallotti of Melbourne, at the Summerset Apartments, where he was visiting friends.
But when police showed up, Pallotti barricaded himself inside the apartment, starting a standoff that lasted for hours and forced residents to be evacuated.
"It was pretty exhilarating. I never experienced anything like that before," said Austin Clampitt, who lives in the apartment complex.
Police tried talking to Pallotti over the phone, but he refused to surrender.
"[Police] started whacking down the door until it broke; they dropped the riot shield and walked in," said Christian Barnett, who lives in the complex.
As of Friday night, police had not offered any motive for the murder, but did tell Eyewitness News that Pallotti has a criminal history.