After a nearly four-hour standoff, a barricaded suspect surrendered to Santa Barbara police Sunday on the Lower Westside.
The incident began at about 5:15 a.m., when officers responded to a report of a man who pointed a handgun at another person during a crime on the 200 block of Ladera Street, according to Lt. Bryan Jensen.
“The suspect, who is known to have been armed, immediately ran and barricaded himself inside an apartment,” Jensen said.
He said officers evacuated the other apartment units in the building, and attempted to communicate with the suspect to de-escalate and bring a safe resolution the incident.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for the neighborhood, which is just down Cliff Drive from Santa Barbara City College, and the SBPD’s armored Bearcat vehicle was brought in to assist in the operation.
The suspect was in the apartment with his mother and a 2-year-old child, according to emergency radio traffic.
At about 9 a.m., the suspect’s girlfriend, who was on scene and in telephone contact with him, advised officers that the man wanted to surrender, which he did a short time later, according to emergency radio traffic.
He was taken into custody without incident.
The suspect’s name and any charges he is facing were not immediately available, Jensen said.
An update on the case was expected later in the day, he added.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
