ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996 TAG: 9608260055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PRINCE GEORGE
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three police officers were shot and wounded Friday by a man who barricaded himself inside his home with his four children. The children were released unharmed after a 9 1/2-hour standoff.
Tyrone Young-El opened fire on four officers who arrived at his house about 12:30 a.m. to take him to jail, police said. He had been convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery for beating his estranged wife and sentenced to two months.
``The door was barely open when he let loose,'' firing a shotgun at the officers, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Mary Evans.
Officers Keith King and Vaughan Moody suffered minor wounds and were treated at John Randolph Hospital in Hopewell, said Prince George police Lt. Edward Frankenstein. Officer Paul Burroughs was in stable condition at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals in Richmond with a broken left arm and wrist.
Prince George Cpl. William King said Young-El was charged with four counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer. Young-El was being held without bond and was taken to Central State Hospital for a mental evaluation. Arraignment was tentatively set for Monday in Prince George General District Court.
Young-El emerged from his house at 10 a.m. with his hands in the air and his children walking behind him, Evans said. Young-El had custody of those four children; his estranged wife has custody of the couple's other four children.
Young-El released the children - ages 11, 9, 7 and 6 - more than an hour after local radio and television stations broadcast a two-minute statement he made during a conversation with police negotiators. He had said he would release the children if the tape were aired.
In the tape, Young-El alleged that his estranged wife had allowed their children to be raped. His voice was barely audible over the static.
Julia Young-El denied the allegations. ``I guess he's just bitter because I finally left'' last December. She said she left him because he beat her.
A state police tactical team and negotiator came to the scene.
Evans said Young-El told police he was ``following Allah'' and demanded that all charges against him be dismissed.
Young-El was convicted of assault and battery on March 12, and was sentenced to a year in jail with 10 months suspended. He appealed the verdict to Prince George Circuit Court, but failed to appear for an Aug. 8 hearing. He had posted $5,000 bond, which was revoked.
Police were serving a warrant on Young-El citing him for failure to appear at the appeal hearing when the officers were shot.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Julia Young-El waits for word of her fourby CNBchildren, held hostage by her estranged husband in a standoff with
police Friday. 2. (headshot) Tyrone Young-El.