A man who barricaded himself in his South Gate home for hours was taken into custody on Wednesday morning.
Officers responded to the home at 10 p.m. Tuesday for a reported family disturbance. One of the family members had been drinking and became violent, and threatened the family with a knife, Lt. Carlos Corella with the South Gate Police Department told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
He said that most of the family had already gotten out of the house by the time police left, but the man stayed behind and was breaking items inside the house.
After taking a report, officers left the home because "there wasn't a threat to a the family members anymore."
Then, a little after midnight, Lt. Corella said officers went back to the home after the man reported a fire inside the home. L.A. County Fire Department also responded.
The man went into a detached garage and firefighters put out the fire inside the home.
“At that point, the suspect barricaded himself in the garage, refused to come out, and made several comments that he wanted to die,” Lt. Corella said.
The SWAT team responded to the home, and negotiations began. Hours later, SWAT was able to breach the garage door, and members of the LA County Crisis Negotiations team were able to talk to him. The man then surrendered.
Police say they actually used some diversionary devices and evacuated some nearby homes before going in to get him.
Follow KNX News 1070 AM
