South Windsor, Conn. ? An advertising executive who snatched his ex-wife from a parking lot, held her hostage for hours during a standoff with police and then refused to leave their burning home was taken away in an ambulance early today, authorities said.

Richard Shenkman was taken out of the gutted remains of the South Windsor home after a flurry of gunshots and shouts. His condition wasn’t immediately known. His ex-wife had escaped earlier.

The dramatic ending came more than 12 hours after police said Shenkman missed a court hearing in his contentious divorce and abducted Nancy Tyler from a lot in downtown Hartford.

Shenkman kept police at bay for hours by saying he had booby-trapped the house with explosives. Tyler escaped Tuesday night, and police cut power to the neighborhood amid several dozen gunshots and explosions. A fire ignited and quickly engulfed the house as police urged Shenkman to come out. It wasn’t disclosed how the fire began.

A bomb squad had been on the scene since the standoff began Tuesday morning.

A local newspaper reported when Tyler was still in the home that Shenkman had given it a list of demands, including that a priest be brought in to give her last rites. A priest was on the scene.