SWAT prepares at the scene.
A nearly 10-hour standoff between a Tucson police SWAT team and a man holed up in an East Side town house ended when the man killed himself early Friday morning, a Tucson police spokeswoman said.
Jason Robinson, 31, was found dead inside the Rincon Village residence, 8080 E. Speedway Boulevard, when SWAT teams finally forced their way in around 2 a.m., Officer Linda Galindo said.
Police are not releasing his cause of death until the autopsy is complete Friday afternoon.
Police were seeking Robinson to arrest him on charges of selling dangerous drugs and also various weapons offenses stemming from an investigation that began in early 2007, Galindo said.
When police arrived around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Robinson barricaded himself in the townhome, using a table and possibly other household furnishings, she said.
Officers called in the SWAT team, evacuated part of the housing complex and blocked off traffic on Speedway between North Pantano Road and North Keesal Avenue.
Galindo said Robinson had been under investigation since the 2007 search warrant at a midtown address associated with him turned up drugs and weapons. She did not know the address at which the search warrant was served.
By May, police had amassed enough evidence to arrest Robinson and were tipped off he was at the Rincon complex, she said.
No shots were fired by police during the lengthy standoff, Galindo said.
At least two women were in the town house with Robinson when police first arrived, according to earlier reports, but there are no reports of the women being held hostage.
Police spokesman Sgt. Mark Robinson said in a Thursday interview that the women who had been in the unit told officers guns were inside.
This is not the first time Jason Robinson has been under police scrutiny. Since the early 1990s, he has amassed a record that includes various weapons and dangerous drug charges, the officer said.
He also had a trial pending for some of those counts brought against him last year, she said, separate from the charges for which police sought him out Thursday.
The Tucson Police Department armored personnel carrier at the scene
SWAT team members arrive at Rincon Village townhouses, 8080 E. Speedway Blvd.