A lengthy hostage situation in Montoursville overnight Tuesday ended violently when a gunman fired and gravely wounded a woman he was holding at gunpoint in her apartment at 324 Jordan Ave., state police alleged.

Delaware County resident Johnnie Drummond, 43, of Norwood, was arrested immediately after the shots were fired, police said. The woman, whose identity was not released, was rushed to UPMC Williamsport, where she was last reported in critical condition. The two are acquainted, but investigators did not elaborate on the extent of their relationship.

Gunfire erupted about 1:50 a.m. Wednesday as members of the Williamsport police Special Response Team were “attempting to make forced entry into the residence. At this time, team members heard two gunshots fired from inside the residence. As they made entry, they saw Drummond and the victim, who was found with multiple gunshot wounds,” police said in a news release that was issued hours after the shooting.

At no time did any law enforcement member at the scene fire any weapons, state police said. Although the borough has its own police department, state police often take the lead in investigating the most violent crimes that occur in the community because they have the essential resources for such work.

Borough police were initially called to the woman’s apartment to check on her welfare about 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, it was stated in the news release.

The woman, also 43, was supposed to work Tuesday, but police were alerted after she never showed up, investigators said.

An officer attempted to make contact with the woman, but was unsuccessful, police said. A second officer, this one with the county’s adult probation office, again checked with the woman’s place of employment just to see by chance if she had ever appeared. She had not.

Both officers then returned to the apartment building.

This time they “heard voices coming from within the apartment. The two identified themselves and (began) talking with the woman. Shortly after contact was made, the officers heard one gunshot and immediately took cover,” the news release said. This happened about 9 p.m. Numerous additional officers rushed to the scene and immediately set up a safety perimeter around the apartment building.

Right after Drummond allegedly fired the one shot, the woman called 911 and told a dispatcher that “she had a gun to her head and that the police needed to back off or she was going to be killed,” it was stated in an affidavit filed by Trooper Brian Moore, the lead investigator in the case. The woman “related that the gunman had all the doors and windows barricaded, and that the two were in the bathroom,” Moore was told.

The city’s Special Response Team as well as trained officers assigned to Montour/Columbia County SWAT, were deployed and asked to respond to the scene. A professional negotiator also was requested.

“Negotiations were attempted” with the gunman, but investigators did not say if the negotiators were able to actually talk to him.

Montoursville fire police detoured motorists away from the area.

Some surrounding homes were evacuated with residents exiting their houses through their back doors.

Upon entering the apartment and hearing two shots, police saw Drummond “covered in blood,” the affidavit stated. Except for Drummond and the woman, no one else was in the apartment, Moore said.

At the hospital, investigators interviewed a woman, believed to be a friend or relation to the victim, and learned for the first time that there was “an earlier incident involving Drummond and the victim in which Drummond put a gun to the victim’s head and threatened to kill them both,” it was alleged in the court document. This incident was believed to have happened about two weeks ago, Moore said.

Investigators were also told to look for a note or letter, believed to be in the victim’s purse, in which Drummond allegedly stated in writing that he planned to kill the victim and himself. Upon executing a search warrant in the woman’s apartment following the shooting, police recovered a handgun that was reported stolen from Norwood, according to the court document. It was unknown if police ever located “the note or letter.”

There was one bullet hole in an apartment window in the vicinity where the probation officer had been standing as he was talking with the victim, the affidavit stated.

At his 12:45 p.m. arraignment Wednesday before District Judge William Solomon, Drummond refused to answer any of the judge’s questions that are routinely asked during all arraignment proceedings.

Drummond, who is convicted of felony kidnapping as well as robbery and escape, has been charged with attempted homicide, attempted murder of the first degree, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, assault on a law enforcement officer, convicted felon not to possess a firearm, recklessly endangering another person, possession of an instrument of crime, discharging a firearm in an occupied structure and receiving stolen property.

The judge denied him bail and ordered him to the Lycoming County Prison.