A 90-minute standoff on San Benito Street in Fairfield ended on September 7 with 59-year-old David Warburton surrendering to police after allegedly threatening people inside a home while armed with a rifle. A dependent adult remained inside the residence with Warburton throughout the ordeal, according to police, though officers say that person was not injured.
Fairfield police responded to the residence after receiving a report of an armed man threatening people inside, as reported by CBS Sacramento. The original caller told police that a dependent adult remained inside the home with the armed man, prompting officers to establish a perimeter around the property while negotiators tried to talk Warburton out peacefully.
According to the same account, drone pilots spotted Warburton discarding a rifle outside the residence during the standoff. Officers later recovered both that rifle and a shotgun from the home. After about 90 minutes of negotiations, Warburton exited the residence and surrendered without further incident, per police.
Shelter-in-Place Order Hit Nearby Blocks
As the standoff unfolded, Fairfield Police issued a shelter-in-place order at roughly 4:45 p.m. for residents in the 1900 block of San Benito Street, east of Oakmont Plaza, according to SFGate. That order was lifted about 45 minutes later once Warburton was taken into custody, giving nearby residents a tense wait before the all-clear.
The department's ability to track Warburton from the air reflects a broader shift in how Fairfield police handle active scenes. The agency's Real-Time Intelligence Center runs a Drone as First Responder program that deploys unmanned aerial systems to provide live video feeds during emergencies and suspect searches, according to KRON 4 News. That capability appears to be what allowed officers to watch Warburton discard the rifle outside the home in real time.
Potential Charges Carry Steep Penalties
Warburton was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, per police. Under California Penal Code Section 422, criminal threats are classified as a wobbler offense that prosecutors can charge as either a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail or a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison, with additional time possible if a dangerous weapon was involved, according to the Shouse Law Group.
The presence of a dependent adult inside the home during the standoff could carry additional legal weight. Penal Code Section 368 makes it a felony, punishable by up to four years in state prison, to willfully place an elder or dependent adult in a situation that endangers their health or causes unjustifiable suffering, particularly where circumstances are likely to produce great bodily harm, per a separate legal explainer. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue that charge alongside criminal threats, and Solano County's District Attorney has not yet detailed the formal charges Warburton will face.
A felony conviction for criminal threats also counts as a serious strike under California's Three Strikes Law, which would require Warburton to serve at least 85 percent of any sentence and would sharply increase penalties for any future felony, according to the Brownstein Law Group. Warburton's bail status and arraignment date have not yet been made public.
Another Armed Standoff in a City With a Pattern
This is not the first time Fairfield police have handled an armed standoff of this kind. Last September, officers arrested a 28-year-old man, Cristian Rodriguez, on criminal threats and weapons charges after he threatened occupants during a dispute on East Tabor Avenue. The San Benito Street block itself has seen firearm-related police calls before, too — in January 2018, officers responded to a reported burglary and firearm-involved disturbance on the same block after a resident reported someone trying to enter a home, per the Fairfield Police Department.
During high-risk barricades like this one, Fairfield police typically rely on a crisis negotiation team along with specialized equipment, including the department's armored Bearcat tactical vehicle, to establish communication with barricaded individuals and resolve standoffs without lethal force, according to the department. Fairfield, the seat of Solano County government and home to Travis Air Force Base, has a population of roughly 122,489 residents, per Census Bureau estimates, with residents 65 and older making up about 12 percent of that population.
