A gunman was struggling with marital problems and probably never intended to take children hostage when he walked into a day-care center, police and relatives said.
James Monroe Lipscomb Jr. released his own son and stepson - the last of his 85 captives - and then surrendered Thursday night, ending the 30-hour siege. No one was hurt."The babies are free! The babies are free!" Tawana Shaw, 18, a cousin of the last hostages, shouted as she ran into the street.
Lipscomb, 33, had taken 80 children and five adults hostage at the Rigsbee Child Development Center on Wednesday afternoon. Police Chief Bruce Glasscock said there were no terms of surrender.
"I think it was a situation he fell into. As we talked to him, he became more and more regretful of his actions," police spokesman Carl Duke said.
Glasscock said the domestic dispute was at the center of negotiations with Lipscomb.
"It was a long-term domestic situation that actually developed over the last few days and erupted into what occurred," Glasscock said.
Lipscomb was charged with one count of aggravated kidnapping, and police said more charges were likely.
Police said Lipscomb had tried to rob someone outside the nearby Plano Bank and Trust shortly before he went to the day-care center where his wife, Kris, works in this suburb north of Dallas.
Day-care center worker Denise Anderson was in charge of a classroom of six toddlers when the gunman took them hostage. She said he wasn't necessarily threatening, but he was angry, pacing the halls as he repeated that he "meant business."