The Hartford, Conn., police bomb disposal unit is driven into place in South Windsor, Conn.,... 
(Bob Child/AP Photo)
A woman held hostage for hours by her estranged husband at their former home got out safely Tuesday, said police, who surrounded the house as it was engulfed in flames with the defiant man still inside.
Several dozen gunshots were fired at the South Windsor house shortly after power was cut to the neighborhood and a SWAT team geared up. Police, who didn't provide details on how the woman got out, used a bullhorn to tell the man, Richard Shenkman, to leave the house because it was on fire, but he wouldn't leave.
A fire truck crew sprayed water on the home late Tuesday, but other firefighters were being held back as gunshots and explosions echoed through the suburban Hartford neighborhood of otherwise well-maintained homes.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Shenkman claimed the house was booby-trapped with explosives, police said. A bomb squad had been on the scene since the standoff began Tuesday morning.
Authorities say Shenkman abducted Nancy Tyler from a parking garage after he missed a court hearing. His attorney said the hearing was related to an order that he vacate the house.
Tyler is a medical malpractice lawyer who worked for Shenkman's advertising firm in Bloomfield, according to divorce records. The firm produced "The Gayle King Show," hosted by Oprah Winfrey's best friend and a longtime Hartford TV anchor, and did commercials for state government, the records say.
A local newspaper reported when Tyler was still in the home that Shenkman had given it a list of demands, including that a priest be brought in to give her last rites. A priest was on the scene.
Shenkman's attorney, Hugh Keefe, said he hoped for a peaceful ending without any more violence.
Police blocked off streets near the home that the couple used to share around 11 a.m.
South Windsor police Cmdr. Matthew Reed said there was no confirmation of explosives in the house even though there were indications, such as "some wires and some other odd items."
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