Fremont Standoff Ends In Psychiatric Hold

FREMONT, CA — A 47-year-old man has been hospitalized for a mental health evaluation following a standoff with police in Fremont on Sunday night.

At 7:48 p.m. Sunday, Fremont police received an emergency call about a domestic disturbance and attempted suicide in the 5000 block of Buchanan Place, with the caller reporting that about 20 or 30 minutes earlier
a man had become physically violent with family members and attempted to harm himself.

The last person who had seen the man said he was armed with a knife, according to police. Multiple officers responded to the call and learned that the man had left the residence and gone to a house a black away in the 5000 block of Cleveland Place, police said.

Officers made contact with the man, who was hiding in the backyard, and could see he was holding a knife with a 12- to 16-inch-long blade to his throat, according to police. The man was irate and refused to comply with demands to drop the knife, police said.

As officers began to negotiate with the man, they learned that prior to their arrival an assault with a deadly weapon had allegedly been committed at the residence in the 5000 block of Cleveland Place.

The man had entered the home unannounced, grabbed a knife and got into an altercation with a resident. During the altercation, a male victim was cut and his injuries required immediate medical attention, police said. The victim was transported to a hospital, where he was treated for an injury that wasn't life-threatening, according to police. As it became dark, Fremont firefighters responded to the scene with a drone that was equipped with lights, police said.

Because negotiations were unproductive, officers deployed less than lethal pepper balls indirectly to the suspect's area at about 9:50 p.m., according to police. The man reacted to the pepper balls but still refused to drop the knife, police said.

Negotiations continued slowly but when new negotiators came in at about 11 p.m., the suspect was responsive to the change and dropped the knife at about 11:05 p.m. and was safely detained without further incident,
according to police.

The man was transported to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and placed on a hold. Charges for assault with a deadly weapon will be sought at a later time, according to police.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock