Motel standoff suspect is a fugitive

SWAT teams descend on the area near the Homestyle Inn in Manassas on Wednesday afternoon, after a man with a gun fired shots and barricaded himself in the motel. (Submitted)

By: Uriah Kiser | Inside NoVA
Published: July 29, 2010

MANASSAS, Va. - John Carlson spent the day before his 50th birthday in an armed standoff with police.

Police say Carlson shot out windows at the Homestyle Inn at 9913 Cockrell Road about 5 p.m. Wednesday after an argument with a woman in the parking lot. No one was injured, but the incident started
a barricade that has so far lasted more than six hours.

SWAT teams still surrounded the out-of-way motel near Old Town Manassas as of 10:45 p.m. After hours of trying to negotiate, police used a blow horn to tell the man – who was alone inside the hotel – to come out unarmed.

When that didn’t work, they fired what appeared to be tear gas into the windows of the motel. The man inside responded by firing more shots from his motel room.

Earlier in the night, police had hoped for a peaceful resolution.

“We are using the negotiators to try to coax him out, but if that doesn’t work, then a deci-sion will be made to possibly use tear gas, or something like that, to force him out of the room,” said Manassas
police Sgt. Tim Neumann.

As Carlson remained holed up in the motel room, according to police, a clearer picture of his criminal past came to light.

Carlson is a wanted fugitive on a probation violation in Chesapeake.

He was also previously found guilty on a charges of driving on a suspended license in Loudoun and Fauquier counties.

While police said he’s been living in the Manassas area for some time, possibly with friends or relatives, court documents from Chesapeake list a Leesburg address for him. Other court records show that
he either lives, or has lived in Bealton.

Officials said it was an argument that prompted the man to pull a gun and fire, but it’s unclear whom the argument was between or what it was about.

Not knowing the reason left little for negotiators to go on, said authorities, who did not bring any of the man’s friends or family members to the scene to help coax him out.

Police say the incident began when an argument that Carlson was involved in outside the motel got heated, and that’s when he grabbed the gun.

After shooting the shooting out the windows, he locked himself into a motel room, police said.