Eastern Iowa Police Standoff Ends with Man Dying in Fire

One man is dead after a lengthy police standoff took an unexpected turn Monday in eastern Iowa.

It all started Monday morning, January 13, at approximately 2:40 a.m. That's when the Des Moines County Sheriff's Office, Burlington Police Department, and West Burlington Police Department all responded to the report of a man, with a shotgun inside a home in the 400 block of East Pennington Street in West Burlington.

After setting up a perimeter around the home and attempting to negotiate with the man for an extended period of time, the home eventually caught on fire. KBUR describes the standoff as lasting about 14 hours.

After firefighters arrived, it was determined that it wasn't safe for them to attempt to fight the fire, because of the armed gunman. It was determined they should just make sure the fire didn't spread to other buildings.

The name of the suspect, who died in the fire, has not been announced.