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A 34-hour standoff ended early Thursday morning when Fairfax County, Virginia, police took into custody an armed kidnapping suspect who had been barricaded inside her vehicle since Tuesday morning.
Police told WTTG they were asked to conduct a wellness check on 29-year-old Brittany Copelin by the Charles County, Maryland, Sheriff’s Office. When they arrived at the address in Alexandria for the wellness check, they were met by a woman who said that Copelin had abducted her on March 24 in Maryland.
The officers searched the area and found Copelin’s car in a parking lot on Richmond Highway. There was a brief pursuit before Copelin stopped on a service road at Richmond Highway and Arlington Boulevard, where the standoff began.
Police brought crisis negotiators and other law enforcement agencies to the scene and used sirens and recorded messages from her family to persuade Copelin to surrender. Finally, shortly after midnight Thursday morning, she did.
She was charged in Fairfax County with two counts of abduction, two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and felon in possession of a firearm.
She also faces charges in Laurel, Maryland, including home invasion, assault, burglary, firearm use in the commission of a felony, loaded handgun, and false imprisonment.
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Investigators are still working to uncover what lead up to the alleged kidnapping.
Copelin is behind held without bond for the time being in Fairfax County.
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[Featured image: Brittany Copelin/Fairfax County Police Department]
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