Nearly 12 hours after it began, a hostage/standoff situation at a business in the Bluegrass Industrial Park has come to an end.
Police said 37-year-old Brent Works shot himself around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday and was transported to University Hospital with life-threatening injuries where he later died. The owner of Lyndon Millwork, Inc. was the hostage and police said he was shaken but suffered no injuries.
The shooting, police said, comes after Works entered Lyndon Millwork, Inc. with gun in hand and took the owner hostage Monday around 3:30 p.m. They said Works was looking for a former girlfriend that worked at Lyndon Millwork.
Police said they kept an open dialogue with Works throughout the 12 hours and at approximately 3:30 Tuesday morning the phone line went silent and they heard shots fired. The SWAT team then entered the building where they found Works has shot himself.
"The end result was beyond our control, it was up to the suspect all along. He could have come out at any time, and unfortunately, during that 12 hours he chose not to do that," Chris McIntire, Jeffersontown Police major, said.
Works called the WHAS11 newsroom Monday evening during the standoff and said he knew what he was doing was not helping his cause.
"I brought the gun because I knew the other co-workers knew of a certain situation of an EPO, and if they came and interfered, then I didn't know at that time if I really wanted to go to jail or be killed," Works said when he called the newsroom.
Police said Works had recently been released from prison and had a lengthy police record.