After ten hours of negotiation, an armed man who went live on Facebook from an Econo Lodge hotel room where he had barricaded himself has surrendered to police.
Norfolk police tweeted at 7:25 p.m. that the man, Clifton Newsome, surrendered peacefully. Newsome also recorded his surrender using Facebook Live.
In the surrender video, a first responder can be heard directing Newsom to open the window and pass his gun through it. He did, and then laid on the floor to be arrested.
“No one is going to shoot you. Trust me. No one is going to shoot you. You are safe,” the first responder said on the video.
On Jan. 6, the Chesapeake Police Department posted a wanted poster for Newsome on their Facebook page. The poster said he was charged with rape, aggravated assault, assault and sexual assault.
Newsome spent much of the day on Facebook Live. In an earlier video he can be seen with a gun broadcasting from the hotel room. In the video he responded to questions in the comments, saying “I told y’all where I was at, man. I’m at the hotel.”
Later, he says, “I’m at the Econo Lodge, man – in room…”
The man says, “Let’s get it,” before ending the video.
Norfolk police were aware of the Facebook videos and had been monitoring them, public information officer Daniel Hudson said.
The hotel, located in the 7900 block of Shore Drive, was evacuated.
Newsome’s girlfriend, Gayshell Hardy, 33, spent her evening on the scene. She said she was scared, but relieved he decided to surrender peacefully.
“To see somebody you love go through that is no good feeling at all,” Hardy said. “He did what he did and he came out. It’s over.”
Hardy said she believes Newsome is innocent of the charges against him.
“I know him,” she said.
