A Nebraska man wanted on a firearms-related warrant was involved in a standoff with the Tulsa (Okla.) Police Department for more than 15 hours late Tuesday into Wednesday.
Tulsa Police Sgt. Shane Tuell said the warrant was related to allegations that the man, 49-year-old Rush Lincoln Hembree, illegally manufactured fully automatic weapons.
The standoff began just before 11 p.m. Tuesday at the Rest Inn & Suites, 7475 E. Admiral Place, after officers located a Hummer they had been seeking for several days.
Hembree surrendered to police just before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
After police ran the vehicle's license plate number, they determined Hembree was being sought on a felony warrant out of Nebraska, Tulsa Police Capt. Dave Roberts said.
Court records show that in 2017, Hembree was arrested in Lincoln on suspicion of possession of a firearm with a felony drug violation and possession of a machine gun, short rifle or shotgun. A month before, he was arrested on suspicion of possession of meth.
According to a probable cause affidavit, in January 2017, Lincoln police officers who made a traffic stop found 51 grams of meth divided into small bags in Hembree's Hummer. Officers said they also found a machete with an 11.25-inch blade and a saw blade, a knife with a 5-inch blade and a 12-gauge Remington shotgun. Hembree told officers he was living out of his Hummer.
In February 2017, officers found Hembree at a Lincoln motel, where he admitted to using meth, according to an affidavit. Hembree was listed as a transient.
Hembree did not appear in court for either case, according to court records.
When Tulsa police approached the Hummer about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the motel parking lot, they suspected someone was inside because its lights were on. At that point, Hembree came out of his motel room, Roberts said. When he realized the officers were looking for him, he ran back into the room.
Officers then surrounded the motel and began communicating with him on the phone from the motel office. He had been communicating on and off all night, but eventually stopped. Roberts said Hembree's pregnant girlfriend was in the room. Just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, the woman left the room.
Tuell said Hembree admitted to police that he had weapons in the room, which the woman in the room confirmed.
World-Herald staff writer Mara Klecker contributed to this report.
