SAVANNAH, Ga. () – An incident report along with body camera footage from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport Police reveals the arrest of three individuals at a hotel close to the airport.

On June 1st, Alexander Blanco-Medina, aged 26, and Jean Nieves-Ortiz, aged 19, were apprehended and charged with false imprisonment and making terroristic threats and acts. Both were employed by Comfort Inn. The following day, Yeiker Luis Arevalo Hernandez was also detained and faced charges of aggravated assault, issuing terroristic threats, and theft.

Currently, all three suspects are detained at the Chatham County Jail without the possibility of bail. According to jail documents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reviewing their immigration status.

first reported the alleged hostage situation at the Comfort Inn and Suites off Airways Avenue on June 1st. According to the report, Airport Police were dispatched to the hotel in response to a call for threats with a firearm around 4:40 p.m. 

According to the front desk clerk, three men pulled a gun on the hotel manager and forced themselves into a room on the second floor before the male victim pushed them out and shut the door. At least four officers then entered the room with a key and escorted the victim out, the report stated. 

According to the report, Blanco-Medina and Nieves-Ortiz were found in the hall while other officers searched for the third suspect, later identified as Hernandez. The officers are shown on their body-worn cameras using cell phones for translation purposes before an interpreter was on scene.

According to the interpreter, the two men said they were hotel construction workers with no involvement in the incident.

One airport officer wrote in the report what he saw on the hotel’s camera systems, “You can see the detainees, the unknown subject and the desk clerk standing outside the room that the victim went in prior to the incident. In the video, you can see the detainees arguing and making hand gestures to the victim. During this time, you can also see the unknown subject with his hand in his right pocket, adjusting an object that has the same shame of a semi automatic pistol. The subject adjusted his grip on the object and you can clearly see the imprint of the firearm. The subject rushes the door and forces his way past the detainees. Then, the detainees also ran towards the door in an aggressive manner. The Desk clerk appeared calm and didn’t leave the scene. When everyone exited the room except the victim, it was as if nothing had happened.”

The hotel camera video showed Hernandez walk into a room on the first floor. According to the report, officers tried to enter this room, but the door was shut and the lock was damaged on the inside of the room, making it impossible to enter with a master key card. Officers then evacuated the first and second floors of the hotel. 

The window to the room was also locked, and the floor was sweeped for the suspect. According to the officer, that was when the SWAT team was called in. Additional units from Chatham County K9, Garden City Police Department, and Pooler Police Department arrived to assist.

The SWAT team found that the suspect was not in the room on the first floor, according to the report. Chatham K9 units found two firearms wrapped in a blue t-shirt behind dumpsters on the property; the same blue shirt Hernandez was seen with on surveillance cameras. 

The report stated, officers saw Hernandez fleeing onto the I-95 northbound ramp. A foot pursuit was initiated, but he was not detained. Meanwhile, Blanco-Medina and Nieves-Ortiz were arrested and transported to the Chatham County Detention Center for processing.

Hernandez was later arrested on June 2nd by Airport Police.