Security officer alerts police to hostage situation www.privateofficer.com
Security officer alerts police to hostage situation http://www.privateofficer.com
A private security officer on patrol of an apartment complex heard a disturbance and after investigating found that a man was holding at leat one person against their will in the apartment.
Police said the gunman who barricaded himself inside a condo building at Oakland’s Jack London Square and held his wife and two children hostage surrendered early Saturday after an all-night standoff, police said.
The suspect, a 41-year-old parolee whose name was not immediately released, gave himself up without incident at 4:25 a.m. and was being interviewed by police. His children, ages 3 and 5, were not harmed, and his wife was being treated for a minor injury, authorities said.
His arrest came after a nine-hour standoff at the Sierra Condos at 311 Oak St.
Police received a call from a security officer about 7:30 p.m. Friday reporting some kind of domestic dispute in a fifth-floor apartment, said Sgt. Reggie Brown. The security guard said the man was armed with a large knife or a meat cleaver.
There had been reports of a woman and children inside the unit with the man, and some residents reported hearing children screaming in or around that location.
Officers came to the scene and tried to get through the door, but someone inside fired a shot at them, Brown said. No one was hurt, but police backed off and called in the SWAT team and negotiators, in an effort to make contact with the man and persuade him to come out peacefully.
Police cordoned off four blocks around the scene and would let no one in the area come or go. Police partially evacuated the fourth and sixth floors of the eight-floor building.
By early Saturday, police were able to make contact with the gunman and persuade him to give up, authorities said.
A woman who lives two doors down from the apartment said she was on her way to a meeting when she saw SWAT officers running down the hallway, telling her to stay inside.
“I’m very scared,” said Liliana Nakamura, speaking by cell phone from inside the building. “There are police running down the hallway pointing guns toward our door.”
She said she called the front desk and was told not to come out.
“This is totally shocking,” she said. “They’re not letting us know what’s going on.”
People who were evacuated milled around the area, talking on cell phones to friends still inside.
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