Standoff Over: Walnut Creek Murder Suspect Surrenders

MARTINEZ, CA —The homicide suspect involved in a standoff with SWAT officers in Martinez since Thursday evening has surrendered to police, according to a Walnut Creek police spokesman.

The 38-year-old man, identified as Gregory Prokopowicz, is suspected of gunning down a 47-year-old woman in Walnut Creek at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the 1900 block of First Avenue. The woman, Roselyn Policarpio, with last known addresses in Martinez and Stockton, had "a dating relationship" with the suspect, according Walnut Creek police spokesman Lt. Tom Cashion.

After allegedly shooting her multiple times, the suspect fled in a Chevrolet sedan, abandoning the car about a half-mile away on Lynvale Lane, police said. Officers using dogs and a California Highway Patrol helicopter
found the car about an hour later. The dogs were then able to track Prokopowicz to a home on nearby San Luis Road.

By then the man had left the area, but at about 7 p.m. Walnut Creek officers spotted him in Martinez riding in the passenger seat of a silver Mercedes, which they pulled over near the intersection of Howe Road and Arnold Drive, police said.

The Mercedes driver got out of the car and was detained, interviewed by officers and later released. Prokopowicz did not get out of the car. He put a gun to his head and said he was going to "harm himself," police said.

At one point during the night, he accidentally fired a single shot from a handgun through car's windshield, but no one was struck by the bullet.

SWAT teams were in a standoff with Prokopowicz until he got out of the car with his hands up at a little after 2 p.m. today. He had exited the car about an hour before he ultimately surrendered and at some point police fired less-than-lethal sponge rounds at him, according to Cashion.

Cashion did not say if the suspect was struck by the rounds or if he was injured during his arrest.

Bay City News/Image via Shutterstock

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