Roanoke Rapids Police Special Response Team members talked a Sussex County, Virginia, murder suspect into surrendering early Sunday morning.

Major Tommy Hathaway said the negotiations with Herbert Earl Warren Jr. took approximately six hours and occurred at 120 Creek Drive in the Southgate Community. “The SRT was able to make contact and negotiate Mr. Surrender. There was no incident, no violence or injuries.”

Hathaway said the reason the process took six hours was there was a lack of a direct line of communication.

Warren was processed on a fugitive warrant for first-degree murder from Sussex County.

Details of the initial crime were not immediately available.

Warren is originally from Roanoke Rapids and was at his mother’s house during the negotiations. He was the only person in the house at the time.

Warren has a criminal record in Halifax County and in 2009 was a suspect in two bank robberies in Roanoke Rapids. Those charges were dismissed, however.

Hathaway said negotiations such as these are one of the lesser-known skills officers in the police department have. “It’s a fine art. We have several members educated in that discipline. Thankfully, it’s an underused talent.”