Cleveland police have identified the four people — two 20-year-old men and two 21-year-olds —who were involved in the early Tuesday morning standoff near a downtown strip club.
Antonio Powell and Daniel Hicks are both being treated at MetroHealth Medical Center for multiple gunshot wounds and are under investigation for multiple charges, including assault on a police officer, according to a police news release.
Deron Hicks and Chaunae Cheers, both 21, are under investigation for weapons violations.
Official charges have not yet been filed.
The standoff began about 1:30 a.m. at East 23rd Street and St. Clair Avenue near Magic City Lounge after officers who were on patrol noticed four people inside a white four-door Buick, police said in a news release.
A bag of drugs and a handgun was seen inside the car with four people.
Two of the people — Deron and Cheers — exited the backseat of the car without incident and without the gun. The front seat driver and passenger stayed in the car and closed the doors shut, police said.
Earlier video of the standoff on E 23rd. After 2 hours of negotiations the CPD SWAT tank was used to ram a car that 2 people were inside 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iTuug9B13k
— Mike Vielhaber (@MVielhaber) February 28, 2017
About an hour later officers and SWAT surrounded the vehicle and attempted to negotiate with Powell and Daniel. Relatives were also called to assist in negotiations to ask the men to surrender, but they refused to get out of the car, police said.
Shortly after, shots were fired at police multiple times. A bullet grazed a SWAT officer's leg during the gunfire. Officers returned gunfire, hitting one man who fell outside of the vehicle. A gun was located near him.
The name of the 45-year-old SWAT officer will be released at a later date.
The man was later taken to MetroHealth hospital to be treated for his injuries. A second man was removed from the car a short time later and also taken to the hospital to be treated for multiple gunshot wounds. Powell and Daniel were both shot multiple times. They were being held at the hospital as a part of the investigation.
STANDOFF UPDATE from @CLEpolice: Multiple suspects in custody. No fatalities. One officer injured. Expected to be okay. @WEWS
— Sarah Phinney (@sarahphinneytv) February 28, 2017
In a Tuesday morning press conference, Calvin Williams, police chief, said little information were known about Powell and Daniel.
"This could have been a lot worse, " he said.
