Police in western Kansas' Garden City says a gunman who held the county's chief judge hostage over a child custody matter eventually surrendered and released the victim without harm.

Authorities say the standoff began about 7 a.m. Tuesday, when the suspect forced his way into Wendel Wurst's home and confronted the man and his wife at gunpoint.

The gunman released the woman a short time later, and she called police from a neighbor's home.

Police say the suspect was upset over a custody case Wurst handled as Finney County's chief judge.