Woodbury man charged after hotel standoff in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — The Woodbury man arrested Tuesday, Jan. 30, after a 36-hour standoff with police at a hotel on the University of Minnesota campus is accused of kidnapping his former girlfriend and holding her against her will.
Lincoln Bowman, 46, was charged Thursday, Feb. 1, with one count each of kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. Bowman is currently in custody and is expected to make his first appearance in court on Friday, Feb. 2.
On Sunday evening, Bowman accompanied a woman he once dated to Room 614 of the Graduate Hotel, which she had booked, the criminal complaint says. The woman later told investigators that Bowman "was acting out of sorts that evening," the complaint says.
When the woman told Bowman that she needed to retrieve something from her vehicle, he allegedly refused to let her leave the room and removed the SIM card from her cellphone, rendering it inoperable.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis police were alerted that Bowman had threatened to harm a member of his family and was wanted on an out-of-state arrest warrant, according to the complaint. After another law enforcement agency tracked Bowman's cellphone to the Graduate Hotel, officers went to Room 614 and spoke to him through the door, the complaint says.
Bowman allegedly "refused to open the door and made statements indicating he was armed," according to the complaint.
"Thereafter, and during events that followed, (Bowman) made additional statements indicating he would cause harm to any officer who entered, that he would set the hotel on fire, and inquired as to whether officers outside had 'ever shot anybody,'" the complaint said. "Officers also heard sounds coming from inside the hotel room that mimicked the sound of a weapon being 'racked.'"
A SWAT team then contacted Bowman and began negotiations, which continued for the next day and a half at the Washington Avenue hotel.
Inside the room, the woman repeatedly told Bowman that she wanted to leave but was rebuffed, according to the complaint. She told investigators she was not allowed to use the bathroom without Bowman watching, and that at one point he reached under the mattress of the hotel bed and acted as if he were retrieving a weapon, the complaint says.
Shortly after 8:20 p.m. Monday, Bowman allowed the woman to leave the room after holding her there for about 24 hours, according to the complaint. The following afternoon, the SWAT team fired "several successive rounds of chemical munitions" into the room, before making entry and arresting Bowman, the complaint said.