Redwood City police take suicidal man into custody after standoff

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- Police said they took a suicidal man into custody after a standoff at a home in Redwood City on Tuesday.

Officers responded around 1:30 a.m. to a 911 call from a 57-year-old man who said he was suicidal and had taken a significant amount of prescription medication at a home in the 500 block of Harrison Avenue.

Once officers arrived at the home, the man refused to comply with requests to exit and the officers then heard gunshots from inside the residence.

Two nearby schools, the McKinley Institute of Technology and North Star Academy, were closed as a result of the standoff. Police also closed several nearby streets while they negotiated with the man.

"My wife, she was also really scared," Jason Avalos said.

Avalos said he feared for his family's safety when he heard gunshots coming from his downstairs neighbor's apartment around 2 a.m. "We've never been in that type of situation. We didn't know how to react," he said.

"I heard gunshots, we heard police officers come and evacuate everybody. They brought in the SWAT team and fire department," Alexis Garcia said.

Garcia lives in the same apartment complex on Harrison Avenue near Fulton Street. He knows the 57-year-old man who fired shots and says he saw him arguing with police before he opened fire in his unit, sending bullets across the courtyard. "He seemed like he was probably intoxicated because he was wobbling and refused to cooperate," Garcia said.

"It was a very dangerous situation. We felt that he was trying to bait our officers into suicide by cop scenario," Redwood City Police Department St. Sean Hart said.

Police were able to talk the suspect down and he surrendered at 8 a.m.

Officials said no one was injured and the suspect was taken to a hospital to get checked out before he is taken into custody.

Bay City News contributed to this story.