Florida sex offender arrested after 14-hour NJ Walmart standoff

⚠️A dispute led to a police standoff at Walmart in Lumberton

⚠️State Police found Blake Reed hiding in an RV engine compartment

⚠️Reed is on Florida's sex offender list and is not allowed to possess weapons.

LUMBERTON — A fight between a man and a Florida sex offender living in an RV triggered a 14-hour police standoff in the parking lot of a Walmart

Blake Reed, the Florida man who lives in the motor home, held off police from late Monday night until about 3 p.m Tuesday when the State Police TEAMS Unit finally arrested him.

Police were concerned because Reed, who refused to come out of his RV in the Route 38 parking lot, appeared to be armed with a flamethrower and a knife.

Police said that at 11 p.m., Reed had had a "verbal dispute" with a passenger in a car in the lot. It is not clear whether police knew what the fight was about. They said the two did not know each other.

During the confrontation, Reed "forcefully" removed the eyewear from the man's face before going into the RV, where he brandished a flamethrower, police said.

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Police say Reed is on Florida's sex offender list

Police arrived and ordered Reed to come out with his hands up. He refused and instead holed up in the RV's engine compartment. He later dropped a knife through the rear floodboard of the RV, police said.

Police learned that Reed was on Florida's sexual offender list and is not supposed to have any weapons. According to the database, he was charged with lewd, lascivious battery with a victim between the ages of 12 and 15 years in 2009.

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