NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA (1/8/2015) A Delaware man wanted on rape charges who barricaded himself in a Newport News motel room died from hanging in a suicide, a Virginia medical examiner ruled today.
The standoff happened Wednesday at the Midtown Motel on Jefferson Avenue, Newport News police said.
Police and the U.S. Marshals Service attempted to arrest, 30, of Lincoln, Delaware, on Wednesday, but he refused to come out and barricaded himself in his room, police said.
About 11:45 a.m., negotiators tried to convince Colson to surrender, police said, but they were unsuccessful.
A tactical unit then sent tear gas into the room and forced their way in, finding Colson unconscious. He was declared dead at a local hospital.
Newport News police said Colson was wanted in Georgetown, Delaware, on three counts of rape and once count each of strangulation, unlawful sexual contact, unlawful imprisonment, theft of a motor vehicle and theft under $1500.
Georgetown police had reported that Colson bound and gagged a 29-year-old woman at the County Seat Apartments on Dec. 19 before sexually assaulting her and fleeing in her SUV, which was later recovered.