LAFAYETTE, LA - A nearly four-hour police standoff at a public park ended in suicide late Monday when a man who escaped from the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center's work release program shot himself in the head.

Glenn Abshire, 35, was pronounced dead at an area hospital, said Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Craig Stansbury.

At about 5 p.m. Monday, police found Abshire inside a white pickup truck at Beaver Park off Evangeline Thruway. They believed Abshire had a gun, so they kept their distance as they talked to Abshire via cell phone, Stansbury said.

At the scene, a dozen or more officers from the Sheriff's Office, Lafayette Police and City Marshals positioned themselves about 100 feet from Abshire's truck, behind a handful of marked and unmarked police cars.

As the sun set, one of the police cruisers pointed its headlights at Abshire's truck. Abshire continued to talk on the phone with police, occasionally smoking a cigarette but never leaving the vehicle.

About 8:45 p.m., as Abshire's threats to hurt himself escalated, a special response team approached the truck but wasn't able to reach the man before he shot himself.

Abshire had six months left on his sentence for drug possession charges. He was enrolled in the Sheriff's Office work release program and working offshore, Stansbury said.

The program allows inmates to get real-world jobs that help re-integrate them into society, and admission is selective, Stansbury said.

"The only people that are allowed to do this qualify through certain criteria," he said.

Inmates are transported to and from their job sites each day by prison officers, and employers are required to call authorities if an inmate walks off the job.
At some point Monday, Abshire did just that. Stansbury said he was not sure exactly when or how Abshire left.