NEW ORLEANS — Police responded to a call to a hotel around 7:30 p.m. Saturday and learned that a man had locked himself in a room and was refusing to leave.
According to the NOPD, the man was irate and possibly mentally ill.
A SWAT team was called in -- standard procedure for the NOPD in a barricade situation -- and the team tried unsuccessfully several times to contact the man.
Eventually, the SWAT team breached the door of the Royal Frenchmen Hotel and Bar in the 700 block of Frenchmen Street, according to a statement from the NOPD, and were able to take the person into custody. No weapons were recovered and nobody was injured in the incident.
"Contrary to nutty rumors this was not a murder, hostage situation, etc. Someone experienced some serious mental health issues and the police were attempting to get him help," said Andrew Gross, the general manager of the hotel in a Facebook post Saturday. "The NOPD did a stellar job diffusing the situation and ending this without injury to anyone."
The man was taken into custody without injury. No further information on his condition was available.
