ELWOOD — A four-hour standoff at an Elwood apartment complex Wednesday between law enforcement officials and a burglary and arson suspect ended without incident after law enforcement officials learned the man they were searching for wasn’t at the residence.

However, the suspect, 22-year-old George Gardineer, Elwood, was expected to turn himself in late Wednesday or early Thursday, according to Miami County Prosecutor Eric Huneryager. He had not turned himself in as of The Herald Bulletin’s deadline late Wednesday.

Madison County, Elwood and Miami County officers, along with Indiana State Police troopers, descended on Duckcreek Apartments, not far from the intersection of 13th and Main streets, at about 5 p.m.

Madison County Sheriff’s Ron Richardson said officers with Madison and Miami counties had gone to Gardineer’s apartment to serve a search warrant. Huneryager said charges of burglary and arson had been filed against Gardineer earlier Wednesday. Gardineer is suspected of burglarizing his father’s home outside Peru on Tuesday and then setting fire to it.

Richardson said a large number officers were called in because Gardineer was suspected of being armed. He said sheriff’s SWAT members fired eight or nine rounds of tear gas into the apartment, in attempt to get Gardineer out. At about 9:15 p.m., after getting no response, they determined the apartment was empty.

Huneryager, who was at the scene, said Gardineer’s father, also George Gardineer, contacted investigators between 9:30 and 10 p.m., telling them his son was with him. The father told detectives they were driving to the Miami County Sheriff’s Department so his son could turn himself in.

The standoff drew a large crowd around the apartment complex and along side streets, after Emergency Management Agency members closed several roads.