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Man taken into custody after standoff in Otay Mesa

Standoff prompted school lockdown
Posted at 2:45 PM, Oct 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-10 23:50:16-04

SAN DIEGO - An apparently distraught man who ransacked his Otay Mesa home Monday and made threats about shooting himself or police holed up inside when officers arrived, prompting a standoff that ended when he surrendered nearly three hours later.

A resident of the 4000 block of Coldwell Lane made an emergency call shortly after 1 p.m. to report that a neighbor had been smashing things in his own home, claimed to have a gun and shouted that he "wasn't afraid to use it" on himself or law enforcement personnel, according to San Diego police.

Administrators at nearby Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School put the campus on lockdown as a precaution while officers went to the seemingly suicidal man's home, SDPD spokesman Luis Roman said.

The suspect, a man in his 50s whose name was not released, spoke to the officers over the telephone but refused to immediately exit his home.

Shortly after 4 p.m., students at the primary school just to the east of the house were released to their parents.

About 15 minutes later, the suspect exited his house empty-handed and was taken into custody, Roman said. It was not immediately clear if he would face criminal charges over the episode.

Police said the man was armed with a fake firearm. Police say the man does have a history of drug use. He was taken to a mental health institution with non-lethal force.