Fairhope police arrested 40-year-old Charles Magnier Sullivan of Mobile for a shooting incident that allegedly took place at the home of Sullivan’s ex-girlfriend over the weekend. According to jail records, he is charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, reckless endangerment and second- and third-degree criminal mischief.

Cpl. Craig Sawyer, police spokesman, said Sullivan entered his ex-girlfriend’s house on Boothe Road in Fairhope around 5:20 Sunday morning and began shooting. The woman, her three children, and her boyfriend were reportedly inside the home when the shooting began.

The boyfriend was able to escape through a window broken in an earlier incident, and he ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911. He told police that the assailant was Sullivan, whom she had allegedly been having some difficulties with.

While he was making the call, officers patrolling the area heard the shots, and were enroute to the house. The patrols had begun around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, after the woman called the police department to report that a rock had been thrown through her window.

Officers said they heard several more shots fired as they approached the residence. They established a protective boundary around it to prevent the shooter from escaping, and at 7 a.m. called for an emergency response team from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department.

While the woman and her children remained barricaded inside, the team fired several tear gas canisters into the home.

Within moments, Sullivan emerged from the house holding what police identified as a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle; a civilian version of the military M-16.

The woman and her children escaped unharmed. Her boyfriend was taken to Thomas Hospital to be treated for lacerations he received as he escaped through the window.

Sullivan was taken to the Fairhope Municipal Jail, where he was held until his transfer Tuesday morning to the Baldwin County Correction Center in Bay Minette.