Suspect sparks a standoff in casino
Police tracked down the man at the Taj Mahal. He pulled a gun during questioning.
ATLANTIC CITY - A suspect in a New York embezzlement case pulled a gun and threatened to kill himself in a casino office, sparking an 11-hour standoff that included his accidentally firing a shot before he surrendered yesterday morning.
"He never made any demands or asked for anything. Eventually he got tired and just wore down," said Rick Santoro, director of risk management for Trump Entertainment Resorts, which owns three casinos here.
The standoff took place in a room off the casino floor at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, which continued to operate.
Police officers from Suffolk County, N.Y., had been searching for the man and tracked him to the Taj Mahal, where they attempted to detain him Thursday night, Santoro said.
The man, William Serrano, 53, of Coram, N.Y., was "being sought for questioning in a Suffolk County, N.Y., embezzlement," Atlantic City Police Chief John J. Mooney said.
Serrano was escorted into the security office at the casino and at some point during questioning pulled out a handgun. One or more police officers pushed him into a holding cell and locked the door, Santoro said.
The suspect repeatedly threatened to kill himself during the standoff, but did not threaten anyone else, Santoro said.
At one point, he accidentally fired his gun, but he was not injured, Mooney said.
Hostage negotiators from the Atlantic City police and state police eventually talked the man into surrendering. He was charged in Atlantic City with aggravated assault and weapons charges.
Serrano was being sought on an arrest warrant for a third-degree grand larceny charge, according to a Suffolk County police spokesman, who would not comment further.