Police say a six-hour hostage situation in East Rockaway ended early Tuesday morning with an arrest. Cops say the hostage situation started at around 12:30 a.m. at a home on Rhame Avenue. According to police, 44-year-old Scott Stroh got into an argument over family finances with his wife Monday night.

Police say the argument escalated when the couple got home and spilled out onto the front lawn. That?s when a neighbor spotted them. The neighbor says the wife?s face was bloodied. He later notified police after unsuccessfully trying to intervene.

Police say Stroh barricaded himself inside the home when they arrived. Cops say he held his wife and seven children, ranging in age from 2 months to 15 years old, hostage.

According to police, hostage negotiators were in constant contact with Stroh by phone for five hours before he finally released his wife. Detective Lt. Kevin Smith says police were conducting negotiations with Stroh when he came out of the home with a baseball bat. Smith says the suspect was taken into custody, and the wife was treated for an ongoing medical condition.

Heavily armed members of the SWAT team were on standby throughout the ordeal because the suspect indicated that he was armed with a gun.

Neighbor Lorraine Cassidy says Stroh has a history of making violent threats. She says he once pulled a knife on her husband after an argument.

Police say all of the children are safe and doing OK. They believe alcohol played a role in the incident. Stroh has been arrested several times before on assault, DWI and petty larceny charges, according to police.

Stroh is facing menacing charges and may be arraigned Wednesday.