Neptune, N.J., police sergeant Phil Seidle shot and killed his ex-wife Tamara Seidle in front of the couple’s seven-year-old daughter in Asbury Park on Tuesday morning, according to police. After a bizarre 30-minute standoff with police, Seidle was arrested on the scene and charged with murder.

Before the killing, Seidle chased his ex-wife through Asbury Park until he crashed his Honda Pilot into her Volkswagen Jetta, forcing it into another parked car, the Asbury Park Post reports. Seidle then exited, walked to Tamara Seidle’s crashed car, and fired his service handgun into her windshield several times. Monmouth County prosecutor Marc Lemieux told NJ.com that Seidle’s daughter was sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV.

Seidle was arrested after a standoff with Asbury Park police—some of whom knew Seidle personally, according to Lemieux. After officers took Seidle’s daughter into custody, he walked around with his gun to his head and fired more rounds at his ex-wife, only surrendering after the officers passed him a mysterious small black box, a witness told NJ.com. The box’s contents—and what about them evidently inspired Seidle to surrender—are unclear. The witness also said officers hugged and comforted Seidle as they took him into custody.

The standoff came to an end after police officers, on one side of Sewall Avenue, slid a small black box about the size of an individual cupcake box to Seidle, who was standing on the other side of the street, the witness said.

After looking at the object, he raised his arms over his head and walked out into the street to surrender, the witness said. The witness said police officers surrounded Seidle, who was “bawling his eyes out.” While taking him into custody, some of the officers hugged him and patted him comfortingly on the back, the witness said.

Lemieux said officials are investigating why police didn’t use force to apprehend Seidle while he was firing the second round of shots at his ex-wife.

During the standoff, Seidle reportedly shouted at his ex-wife about legal battles over custody of their nine children. The pair divorced in May, and the Asbury Park Press reports that Tamara Seidle alleged in a complaint filed two years ago that her husband was abusive and unfaithful. The complaint describes Seidle holding a gun to his head while his then-wife was pregnant and kicking her in the stomach.

A witness told the Press that Seidle said “I’m tired of going to court,” to Tamara Seidle before shooting her, and another witness told NJ.com that he made similar complaints to police.

Seidle is currently being held on $2 million bail at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility.

Screengrab via NJ.com. Contact the author at andy@gawker.com.