A non-jury criminal trial began in Lycoming County Court Wednesday for a Philadelphia man accused of holding his pregnant girlfriend hostage in a Williamsport apartment leading to a four-hour standoff with city police and other law enforcement agencies.

Rynell Brooks-Brown, of Philadelphia, who was 20 at the time of the incident on Feb. 19, 2024, allegedly would not allow the now-24-year-old woman to leave the Timberland Apartment unit in the 500 block of Lycoming Street, according to city police. The standoff, which began about 10 a.m., ended when the woman came out about 2:10 p.m., followed by Brooks-Brown.

The standoff drew a large crowd, which included the woman’s mother and other family and friends and police indicated how they were dispatched to the apartment initially to investigate a disturbance involving a firearm.

The trial began before Judge William P. Carlucci with Brooks-Brown present with his defense attorney, Eugene P. Tinari, while the prosecution was represented by Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Katherine Sweeley.

Testimony from the woman included how the two had met the year before, how she was a mother of three children, and that Brooks-Brown was the father of her youngest.

It included how a gun was shot off in the apartment the night before. The couple were having an argument. Tinari asked, “You didn’t call the police when a gun went off?”

The woman described an environment of fear. She told the court how they were arguing that night because she had texted another baby mother. However, much of her testimony focused on what led to the standoff with police the following day.

At one point, while in an upstairs bathroom the woman said Brooks-Brown walked up behind her, pointed a black handgun at her head and said, “You need to stop playing with me before I (expletive) hurt you.” She explained how she had texted a co-worker, who ultimately contacted 911.

Then, at another point, while she was in a downstairs bathroom, the woman said he told her,”You need to come out and fix this and tell them you are fine.” That was apparently a reference to the police being outside of the apartment.

When police arrived, officers saw Brooks-Brown looking out a first-floor window of the apartment, but he refused to answer the door, according to the court record. The incident led to the city’s Special Response Team responding, which was joined about 1 p.m. by a second tactical police team from Columbia County. Several homes in the immediate vicinity were temporarily evacuated as a precaution. Attempts to reach Brooks-Brown or anyone else in the apartment by telephone were unsuccessful.

Upon executing a search warrant at the end of the standoff, officers recovered a loaded handgun in the apartment.

In court, the woman, upon questioning by Tinari, explained why she had refused to answer questions during a preliminary hearing. She said she was wearing an ankle monitor and was awaiting sentencing. She expressed being frustrated and hungry that day. “You had a lot going on?” Sweely asked her, as she nodded.

When Brooks-Brown was arraigned before District Judge Kirsten Gardner, he was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $300,000 bail. He posted 10 % of $100,000 bail through the Court of Common Pleas and a bondsman.

Charges proceeding to court were terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, person not to possess, harassment, and resisting arrest, the court record indicated.

Sweely said the prosecution would present between five and seven witnesses in what was scheduled to be a two-day trial.