Suspect in custody after barricade at Palace Hotel in SF

Market Street closed after reports of gunshots at Palace Hotel

San Francisco police said a suspect was barricaded inside the hotel and refused to come out.

SAN FRANCISCO - A shooting suspect was taken into custody early Sunday after a nine-hour standoff at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco, police said.

Officers responded shortly after noon Saturday to reports of shots fired and a possibly armed man inside a hotel room near Market Street and New Montgomery Street, police said. Authorities shut down nearby streets and evacuated hotel guests as a precaution.

The standoff ended just after 9 p.m. when the suspect surrendered without incident. Police said no one was injured.

Investigators did not immediately release details about what led to the standoff or whether a weapon was recovered.

As part of the initial emergency response, police shut down several blocks downtown and evacuated of some guests from their rooms. 

Saturday's massive power outage complicated matters for police trying to resolve the situation. 

What we know:

San Francisco Police officers were sent just after 12:15 p.m to New Montgomery Street near Market Street on reports of gunshots and "located a possible suspect in the building," the department’s Officer Robert Rueca told KTVU.

The suspect refused orders from police to exit the building, the SFPD said.

Police said that some people were evacuated, with a hotel employee telling KTVU that fourth floor guests specifically were evacuated from their rooms. The SFPD also advised the public to avoid the area until the scene was cleared.

SFPD hostage negotiation experts and a tactical unit were sent to the scene in an attempt to resolve the situation, and a drone was used as well. 

What they're saying:

KTVU spoke to a couple of people who had just arrived from Italy, who had a reservation at the Palace Hotel, but found themselves unable to get near it. 

"Well, everything is closed, we can't pass actually. We just arrived from the airport," said Joanna Krenva. "So we are quite tired actually and we have to wait. We tried to call and they didn't answer."

"We're still trying to process everything," said Filippo Ruggieri.