Witnesses React To Hostage Situation

A tense hostage situation ended peacefully after an hour long standoff with police.

Jim Berlage, a witness who was outside talking on his telephone, says he watched a man storm into First American Storage on Magnolia Road with a shotgun.

"The guy pulled up in the truck, jumped out and ran in the front door," says Berlage, who called 911 when he heard a woman scream.

Mobile Police say the alleged gunman, John Earl Rollins, began arguing with his wife, who witnesses identified as Penny Rollins. During the argument, two shots were fired inside the business, and police say Rollins struck his wife with the weapon.

The gunman then took his wife hostage and locked her and himself in a bathroom.

Other people inside the business were able to leave without being harmed.

"I know both her and her husband, and I never suspected something like this would happen," says Pat Taylor, the area manager for First American Storage.

Police Chief Phillip Garrett says during the stand-off Rollins did not make any demands, and after more than an hour he surrendered peacefully.

Rollins is charged with kidnapping and domestic violence.

Rollins' wife was taken from the scene in an ambulance, but her injuries were not serious.