A seven-hour standoff following a fatal shooting at an Arlington apartment complex ended without further violence Monday afternoon.
Arlington police said 32-year-old Joel Jonas White peacefully exited an apartment with his arms raised shortly after 1 p.m. White was found to be alone in the apartment, except for some animals.
After the White's arrest, police said the investigation had turned into a homicide -- after a person found injured on the pavement earlier in the morning had died of his injuries.
"The victim from earlier, a man in his 30s, was believed to have been shot and killed by the suspect. That person has died," said Lt. Christopher Cook.
Police are now doing secondary searches of nearby apartments due to the number of gunshots reported earlier in the morning.
The standoff started after several residents at the Silverwood Apartments, on the 1100 block of Silverwood Drive, called 911 at about 6 a.m. Monday reporting gunfire.
“You could hear the first series of shots, it was about five shots in the morning. Really early this morning I heard a little bit of arguing and screaming. You had another series of shots, then it was really quiet for a long time,” said neighbor Omar Richards. “A little bit before 5 o'clock some pretty heavy back-and-forth shooting started, and probably about three series of five shots every time.”
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When police arrived on the scene, they reported finding the injured person lying near a car in the parking lot with an apparent gunshot wound. The injured person was transported to an area hospital where he died.
Police believe White retreated into an apartment where he was believed to have access to "multiple weapons." At some point, an Arlington officer did exchange gunfire with White, police said.
Officers then tried to negotiate the person's surrender -- but the person refused and remained inside the residence for nearly seven hours.
It wasn't until after 1 p.m. that the person ultimately decided to surrender to police.
Throughout the course of the standoff, Arlington police requested SWAT assistance from the Grand Prairie Police Department and evacuated about 25 residents of the complex while closing a nearby intersection.
One of the residents of the complex, Jeff Bidwell, said he and his family, including his 3-year-old grandson, had to crawl out of a window to escape.
“Heard a lot of shots over across from us. The apartment faces east and west and my apartment fortunately faces north and south,” said Bidwell. “We got over there by the fire truck and stayed over there out of the way.”
Police have not revealed the name of the person who was fatally shot. White faces a murder charge and is in the Arlington City Jail with bail set at $250,000.
NBC 5's Kendra Lyn, Eric King and Greg Janda contributed to this report.
