Gunman Ends Texas Day-Care Standoff Peaceably One Child Asked, “Are We Going To Die?”

A gunman who took more than 60 children and adults hostage at a day-care center released his last two captives Thursday night - his own son and stepson - then surrendered, ending the 30-hour siege.

No one was hurt.

James Monroe Lipscomb Jr., 33, gave up shortly after 9 p.m., police spokesman Bruce Glasscock said. There were no terms of surrender, he added.

“He was tired,” the chief said. “The children were getting tired, and I think he started thinking about the welfare of the children.”

Lipscomb surrendered after freeing his 5-year-old son, James Lipscomb III, 5, and 7-year-old stepson, Xavier Jones.

Earlier Thursday, Lipscomb released his last adult captive and a little girl from the Rigsbee Child Development Center.

Televised images of the 2-year-old girl, clutching a teddy bear and with her arm around the neck of a woman who was carrying her, angered Lipscomb and he cut off talks with police for two hours.

By noon, though, telephone contact had resumed. The girl was identified by relatives as his goddaughter.

“The suspect saw the exchange of the hostage to the relative and as such we have had a setback in the negotiations,” Glasscock said Thursday morning.

By nightfall, Glasscock reported that negotiations were back on track.

On Thursday night, authorities said 78 children and five adults were in the day-care center at one point but an undetermined number of children and adults escaped as the standoff began. Lipscomb then gradually released the rest until just his son and stepson remained.

His brother, nephew and neighbor identified him as the husband of day-care center worker Kris Lipscomb, who apparently was in the first group to escape the center.

Police said Lipscomb had tried to rob someone outside the nearby Plano Bank and Trust Wednesday afternoon, shortly before he stormed the day-care center in this suburb north of Dallas.

Day-care center worker Denise Anderson was in charge of classroom of six toddlers when the gunman took them hostage. She said he wasn’t necessarily threatening, but he was angry, pacing the halls and kept saying he “meant business.”

“He wanted to talk to his wife. He kept saying, ‘Let me talk to Kris,”’ Anderson said.

“One of the older (kids) asked me, ‘Miss Denise, are we going to die?”’ she said. “I said, ‘No honey, faith will keep us going.”’