The police case ends with a man shot in Mobile, Alabama

A man with a gun held police outside a government building for more than five hours, shutting down parts of downtown Mobile, Alabama, before shooting himself.

MOBILE, Ala. — A man with a gun held police outside a government building for more than five hours Monday, shutting down part of downtown Mobile, Alabama, before shooting himself, authorities said.

The man, who was not immediately identified, was believed to have suffered a life-threatening injury, but his condition was not immediately available, Police Chief Paul Prine told the media.

Before the situation ended, Prince said the man seemed incoherent in discussions with mental health workers.

Katrina Frazier, a police spokeswoman, told reporters that a man with an apparent gunshot wound was seen in a car parked outside Government Plaza, which contains several Mobile County offices and courthouses. She said the man pointed a gun at her head when officers approached to see if she needed help, reports al.com.

“The officers left the scene and we called in the SWAT teams and a negotiator,” Frazier said. It was not known if the man may have shot himself or if he was shot by someone else.

Photos and video from the scene show dozens of officers pointing handguns and rifles at a car parked along a curb. Mental health professionals were on the scene talking to the person, and there were no hostages involved, James Barber, an assistant in the mayor’s office, told WALA-TV.

A backseat window of the car was shattered moments before a man holding a gun to his head exited the vehicle briefly, stood on the sidewalk for a few moments and went back inside . An armored police vehicle was used to ram the car to a pole after the man tried to drive away, Prine said, and the man shot himself after officers fired tear gas at the car.

A major road through the city was blocked during the episode, as was a tunnel that runs under the Mobile River leading out of the city.