SAN DIEGO (CNS) – An armed man suspected of making threats at a Birdland-area apartment complex Tuesday holed up in a rental unit there when police arrived, prompting a standoff that stretched through the mid-afternoon and well into the evening.
A 911 caller reported the suspect’s allegedly menacing behavior in the 2300 block of Cardinal Drive shortly before 2:30 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department. No injuries were reported.
When patrol officers arrived, the man, whose name was not immediately available, retreated into an apartment and ignored repeated orders to surrender, SDPD Sgt. Kevin Gibson said.
After the stalemate had gone on for more than an hour, police commanders called in a SWAT team to take up positions around the residential complex. Officers also closed several blocks of Cardinal Drive to through traffic pending resolution of the situation.
The result frustrated some residents who were kept from their homes for hours.
“Honestly, you’re stopping me from my day, sir,” resident Bonnie LaShae said. “I had too much to do. You know what I mean? I’m running errands and I can’t even get to my house.”
“A little frustrated with the situation,” another resident Karina Franco said. “Some of us have to go to work tomorrow and I’m a teacher so I have to make plans for what I’m going to be teaching tomorrow.”
Administrators at nearby Fletcher Elementary School put the campus on lockdown and had students transported to Chesterton Elementary School on Linda Vista Road to be picked up by their parents, according to San Diego Unified School District officials.
The standoff was ongoing with “no change” in the status of the attempted negotiations with the suspect as of 6:30 p.m., SDPD public affairs Lt. Adam Sharki said.
Sharki declined to say what type of weapon the man was believed to be armed with and would not provide details about the threats the man allegedly had been making.
Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.
FOX 5’s Domenick Candelieri and Kelsey Christensen contributed to this report.
