A father of two is facing a felony charge after barricading himself and his children inside their Palm Bay home for seven hours Sunday.

Around 11:30 a.m., Earl Stanton, 41, was handcuffed and brought into custody several hours after police tried to get the father to come out of his home.

Shortly after, his children, ages 8 and 14, were safely brought outside.

The standoff with police just off Bottlebrush Drive in eastern Palm Bay started early in the morning.

“Well I woke up around 4:30 to the sound of what I thought was gunshots,” said neighbor Luke Alexander.

“We were just laying down and we had the windows open and we just heard five gun shots, ‘pop, pop, pop,’ like that,” said another neighbor, Eric Rodriguez.

Police say a neighbor saw the man holding his rifle on his balcony, firing shots to the ground, and that’s when she called 911.

911 caller: “I heard him yelling first, and he was saying ‘come on world [expletive] me, [expletive] me world,’ then he tried to fire the gun and it was misfiring and then it fired for three or four times for real.”

The SWAT team was called; worried the man was armed, barricading himself inside his condo with his two children.

911 caller: “I’m really scared for the kids.”

Crisis negotiators tried to make contact using a telephone and their PA system, with no response.

“Concerned, primarily because we were told that there were small kids inside the residence and we didn’t know the status of the individuals inside the residence,” said Lt. James Richmond with the Palm Bay Police Department.

Some neighbors were stuck inside their homes, others were escorted out.

Close to seven hours later, Stanton surrendered and no one hurt.

“I’m really glad the police officers took their time and took the kids safety into consideration and pulled it off nicely,” said neighbor Gregory Purofoy.

Police say they don’t know why Stanton waited so long to come out.

He will be mentally evaluated and faces a second-degree felony charge of shooting into a dwelling.

Police tell us the children are being cared for by a family friend, pending further action by the Department of Children and Families.

Police say Stanton has sole custody of the children.