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After more than 30 hours, barricade situation is over and Richmond Hwy is back open

Police say the woman was safely taken into custody. Additional updates will be provided later Thursday morning.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. β€” A standoff between Fairfax County Police and an armed woman in a car is over, Fairfax County Police announced early Thursday morning.

A portion of Richmond Highway was shut down for more than 30 hours during the standoff that began Tuesday morning. 

Around 12 o'clock Thursday morning, she finally came out of the vehicle and was taken into police custody, according to Fairfax County Police.

For hours, police repeatedly blasted sirens and yelled over the PA systems for her to come out with her hands up. When she finally did, the crowd of onlookers across the street cheered.

Around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, officers with the Fairfax County Police Department were called to the 7200 block of Fordson Road in Alexandria to check the area for a critical missing person. The check-in was at the request of the Charles County Sheriff's Office.

"We received a request for a welfare check from another agency where there was a possible person missing, missing endangered. As our officers approach that area they were approached by a woman who said she had been abducted and that the suspect had just fled," said Lt. James Curry, with the Fairfax County Police Department.

While gathering more information from the woman, officers say they saw the abduction suspect leave the area in a 2014 black Jeep Cherokee. The suspect was also identified as a critical missing person. 

After a short pursuit, police say the Jeep came to a stop in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway.

"She did display a firearm to our officers during that first traffic stop and that's lead to the response you see behind me here," said Lt. Curry.

Fairfax County Police say the driver refused to follow officers' commands and barricaded herself inside the vehicle with a gun.

Members of the police department's Special Operations Division and Crisis Negotiation Team were brought in to de-escalate the situation.

"It's a combination of our sworn officers who are trained in crisis intervention working with the clinicians out of our community services," said Lt. Curry.

They also used a robot to get closer to the woman and to communicate safely.

"It has cameras so we're able to get a better idea of what's going on inside the vehicles. We can also use that to drop off items like a phone to communicate with us. Earlier she asked for cigarettes, we did deliver that to her as well," said Curry.

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