By Julia Sclafani and Anna Buchmann
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An eight-hour armed standoff with a SWAT team at a south Sacramento motel ended peacefully Friday morning, with officers taking the suspect in handcuffs to a police car at 10 a.m.
Officers had responded to reports of shots being fired at about 1:30 a.m. at the America’s Best Value Inn on Massie Court off Stockton Boulevard, near the intersection of Highway 99 and Mack Road, said Sacramento police Officer Vance Chandler.
Chandler said the man barricaded himself in the motel and fired his weapon multiple times, including at officers.
Some motel guests were evacuated, while others sheltered in their rooms and were unable to leave, Chandler said.
As the standoff continued over several hours, Chandler said, crisis negotiators made verbal contact with the armed man, but at first he was “not being cooperative.” The man was still firing his weapon as of 5:40 a.m., Chandler said.
However, at 10 a.m., “We took him into custody without incident,” Chandler said. The man was in the room alone, he said.
No injuries were reported.
Police had no confirmation of the suspect’s identity.
“We do know that we’ve recovered a firearm in the motel room,” Chandler said. The police explosive ordnance detail was on the scene.
Chandler credited teamwork by officers “trained in de-escalation” for the peaceful resolution of the standoff.
It was not known what precipitated the crisis.
Leonie and Geoffrey Barnes were among the evacuees. Leonie Barnes said she heard what sounded like six to seven shots around 1:30 a.m., but thought they were coming from a nearby California Highway Patrol substation and went back to sleep.
She said she woke up to more shots, and 10 minutes later a knock on the door telling the couple to evacuate. They were led from their room and met by police officers, she said.
About five guests were gathered in the parking lot of the motel at 6 a.m. Bystanders said at least a dozen people were evacuated.
2018 The Sacramento Bee