Law enforcement authorities on Saturday rescued a 60-year-old man who had been taken hostage by an escaped inmate, capturing the inmate and peacefully ending a standoff at an apartment which lasted hours, police said. Tyler Manka, 27, of Grand Island, Nebraska, escaped from the custody of the Hall County Department of Corrections about 10:19 p.m. Friday while being treated at St. Francis Medical Center. He fled by foot and forced his way into an apartment located several blocks east of the hospital, the Grand Island Police Department said in a news release.
Manka took the apartment’s resident hostage, barricading himself in one of the rooms. The hostage situation prompted the deployment of the Grand Island Police Department Tactical Response team, Hall County Sheriff’s Department and Nebraska State Patrol, among others. At about 6 a.m. Saturday, tactical operations were turned over to the Nebraska State Patrol SWAT team amid the lengthy negotiations. The SWAT team entered the apartment shortly after 10 a.m., safely rescuing the hostage and taking Manka into custody.
