Homestyle Inn guests told to leave after standoff

Manassas, Va. - For Rich Bugiyne, it's been a week to forget.

Fresh from southern Illinois where there is significant unemployment, he moved his family to Manassas to find a job and a place to live. He had spent just three nights at the Homestyle Inn off Cockrell Road when tragedy unfolded Wednesday night.

A 23-hour standoff with police left a Chesapeake man dead and sent the rest of the hotel occupants -- many of whom had paid for a week -- in a holding pattern at an area hotel.

With his wife, Corrie Mitchell, doing laundry at a nearby coin-operated laundry, Bugiyne was notified by police and hotel management to leave the hotel early Wednesday evening. He scrambled to get his six children out the door, leaving behind infant supplies for his 3-month-old daughter, Avery.

"Some of my kids didn't have a shirt, some didn't have shoes, and my baby was na-ked," Mitchell said.

"A man left in his robe," Bugiyne said. "He didn't have his pants or his shirt."

Eventually, Bugiyne hooked back up with Mitchell and spent the majority of the night at the VFW across the road from the hotel.

Mitchell said Red Cross was not allowed into the VFW for several hours and when they did get in, they had nothing to offer the hotel guests. Mitchell said the Red Cross workers came back with refreshments and snacks and then went out again to buy diapers and baby supplies for Avery.

"The whole time my baby was using washcloths as diapers and had no formula," Mitchell said.

After receiving two complimentary nights at the Best Western on Mathis Avenue courtesy of the Red Cross, Bugiyne was finally able to grab essentials and his baby's car seat from his hotel room Friday morning.

He said he planned on cleaning the seat, which smelled of tear gas that police used in an effort to get the armed man out of his room.

Another guest, who wanted to remain anonymous, also came by to pick up a few things Friday morning after staying the last two nights at the Best Western with his wife and two children.

"I showered when I got back and still had tear gas all over [my clothes]," said the guest, who had spent two months at Homestyle Inn thanks to his landlord going into foreclosure. "It was bitter and tangy-ish [smell]."

Luckily, Mitchell and her mother -- who lives in Gainesville -- were able to get most of their belongings later that afternoon. Homestyle Inn management said depending on where the room was located, guests could come back now and pick up their belongings.

Bugiyne's family will be staying with his mother-in-law, but others will have the choice of either receiving refunds or getting the equivalent amount of rooms comped at the nearby Old Town Inn, said management on Friday afternoon.

According to Homestyle management, the message regarding refunds and hotel stays was relayed to the Red Cross, and was supposed to be relayed to Best Western. Yet Bugiyne said he still didn't know anything on Friday morning and that others who stayed at the Best Western had nowhere to go after their two nights were up.

"There hasn't been a great wall of communication between the police, Red Cross and Social Services," said the anonymous guest.

The owner of the hotel was dealing with insurance issues and was unavailable for comment on Friday, said management.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-530-3904.