SWAT Standoff in Bellflower Ends After Suspect Gives Authority the Slip

BELLFLOWER, CA -- A six-hour-long standoff with a sheriff's SWAT team came to an end Friday when authorities discovered that a man who had allegedly threatened to shoot his father and was believed to be armed while barricaded inside a Bellflower home had escaped.

The initial call to authorities at 10:47 p.m. Thursday was about a family disturbance in the 15700 block of Cornuta Avenue, according to Deputy Guillermina Saldana. The man who was threatened by his son managed to slip out of the house. But the suspect's bed-ridden grandmother and her caretaker remained trapped inside with the suspect.

Surrounding homes were evacuated during the standoff, said Deputy Lisa Jansen.

A sheriff's crisis negotiation team was called to the scene to try to get the man to peacefully surrender, Jansen said.

After several failed attempts to persuade the man to give up, SWAT deputies entered the home about 5 a.m. and tended to the grandmother and her caretaker, Saldana said.

The SEB unit discovered the man had slipped out, said Deputy Trina Schrader, adding that when the man escaped isn't clear.

All family members were unharmed and the evacuated neighbors were allowed to return to their homes, Saldana said.

Anyone with information on this incident was asked to call the Lakewood sheriff's station at (562) 623-3500.

-- City News Service, photo courtesy of LASD