A SWAT team moved in on a kidnapping suspect holed up Friday evening in a home in The Villages.
James Savage was believed to be barricaded in a home on Belhaven Loop in the Village of Chatham when the SWAT team from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office aggressively closed in on him. Crowds of neighbors, who had been displaced from their homes, were watching the standoff which had continued for several hours.
Negotiators repeatedly asked Savage to walk out of the home. They were communicating with him by phone and shouting to him.
When the 54-year-old wouldn’t budge, an armored vehicle moved in and smashed a window.
The standoff continued into the wee hours early Saturday morning.
The Wildwood Police Department earlier in the day had issued a bulletin for Savage after he allegedly forced Marivel Dunn into a Mercedes and drove away from a home in the Village of Monarch Grove. They had been visiting another family.
Wildwood Police Chief Randy Parmer said Dunn did not want to leave with Savage and he grabbed her by the hair, pushed her to the ground and struck her several times in the face. Savage forced her into the Mercedes and fled the area. Parmer said Savage and Dunn apparently had a “long-time romantic relationship.”
The Mercedes was later found in the Marion County section of The Villages. It has been impounded.
Dunn was also found by Marion County sheriff’s deputies and she is said to be safe.