A mentally ill man is dead after an hours-long standoff with police in the Polk County town of Poinciana.
Authorities say 34 year old Steven Bradley broke into a neighbor’s Wallaby Lane home Monday morning.
He held the family of four hostage with two handguns while police surrounded the house and tried to talk him out.
At one point, the woman and two children escaped through a bathroom window.
Bradley then opened fire on police, forcing them to return fire.
Officers burst into the house and rescued the remaining hostage unharmed.
They found Bradley dead of a gunshot wound, but aren’t sure if if he shot himself or was hit in the gun battle.
Officials say Bradley demanded to know where the “mind control box” was when he first broke into the house.
