Staff Report
The suspect taken into custody after Sunday’s Embassy Suites standoff was identified by Franklin Police on Sunday evening.
Officers responded to the hotel early Sunday morning after Paul Briggs, 26, of Murfreesboro, called police dispatch and made threats of mass violence inside the Embassy Suites Hotel. He claimed to have a sniper rifle and explosives.
When arriving officers encountered Briggs in the hallway of the hotel, he retreated to his room where he barricaded himself for hours. Hundreds of hotel patrons were evacuated from the property during the standoff.
Briggs, who has been arrested several times in the past, has been charged with filing a false report (a Class-C Felony) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Authorities are holding him in the Williamson County Jail on a $102,500 bond. He is due in Williamson County Court on Nov. 17 at 1 p.m.
Briggs was wanted on unrelated charges out of Rutherford County at the time of his arrest.
Despite Briggs’ claims and threat, no explosives or guns were found in his hotel room or car after an extensive search that kept access to the hotel restricted for several hours after Briggs was taken into custody.
