The Bankers Hill neighborhood in San Diego was the scene of a tense standoff yesterday, which ended when a 26-year-old man, referred to by police as "Evan," was taken into custody after exhibiting threatening behavior. The situation began unfolding around 10:45 AM when residents reported a man screaming and breaking windows inside an apartment building on Front Street. According to FOX 5/KUSI, officers who arrived at the scene claimed that Evan seemed to be having a mental breakdown and had threatened to cut anyone who approached him.
During the event, which lasted until just before 5:00 PM, police surrounded the building and eventually deployed tear gas to bring the situation safely to a resolution. As a precaution, neighbors were evacuated from the area, and crisis negotiators were continuously attempting to communicate with the man by phone. As The San Diego Union-Tribune reported, Lt. Travis Easter said police negotiators were on the phone with him for a long time. This followed multiple occurrences in the past weeks, where police had had to respond to incidents involving the same individual.
The standoff came to a close when Evan emerged from his apartment shortly before 5 PM, surrendering to the police without further incident. Broken glass from the earlier window breakage was visible on the sidewalk, indicating the level of distress that might have precipitated the standoff. "At that point, we determined the nature of the call and the volume, the times that we came out, and the propensity for violence that we were going to upgrade this to make sure that we took him into custody today," Lt. Easter told FOX 5/KUSI.
Evan has been arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism. Still, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune, he is also to undergo a mental health evaluation to ensure he receives the appropriate help he needs. This came after the standoff marked the 12th encounter with police in three weeks, with the repeated nature of the call-outs contributing to the decision to employ more robust police resources, including SWAT teams and emergency negotiation personnel.
