City Heights Assault Suspect In Custody After Standoff In Ramona

SAN DIEGO, CA — An assault in Kensington led to a lengthy police chase and a SWAT standoff that ended with a suspect taken into custody in a rural neighborhood 25 miles from the site of the original crime, authorities said Wednesday.

The stalemate ended at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when Christopher Forrest Payne, 29, was taken into custody, said Lt. Adam Sharki of the San Diego Police Department.

Payne was booked into San Diego Central Jail Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. on four felonies and one misdemeanor, including assault with a firearm, a felon in possession of a firearm, and evading police, according to jail records. He was scheduled for a court hearing on Friday.

Payne -- who allegedly had attacked another man in the 4100 block of Monroe Avenue in San Diego while armed with a loaded gun -- escaped on a motorcycle at about 11:30 a.m. when patrol officers arrived in the area and tried to contact him, according to police.

With officers giving chase, the suspect went northeast, eventually pulling over in the 22700 block of Vista Ramona Road, near East Old Julian Highway in Ramona.

"Officers confronted the suspect a second time, but he barricaded himself inside (a) structure," Sharki said.

After the man ignored repeated orders to surrender, police called in a special weapons and tactics team along with crisis negotiators.

— City News Service