Police responded to a domestic dispute early in the morning on Sunday at the 15000 block of Poppy Meadow Street in Santa Clarita after a man allegedly threatened his family with a shotgun, according to officials with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
The incident was reported at 1:05 a.m. when the suspect’s wife and sister in law became so afraid that they left the location and called the sheriff’s department.
“The informant on the call stated that during an argument, the suspect had produced a fire arm and threatened the family members,” said Sgt. Brian Hudson with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
Sgt. Hudson said they were so scared that they left their family members at the residence—a 10-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy.
The informant, the wife of the suspect, said that her husband had told her to leave at the point of a shotgun.
When law enforcement arrived on scene, they had reason to believe that the suspect, a 47-year-old, was still in the home.
“He did not respond to any phone calls (made to) the residence or his cell phone,” said Sgt. Hudson.
“We did PA announcements, calling him to come out of the location. He did not respond to those, so we notified our crisis negotiation team and our special bureau, which is our SWAT Team.”
The crisis negotiation team attempted several times to contact the suspect, but no response was given.
The suspect never made any demands or threats to law enforcement. He just didn’t acknowledge them.
“Eventually at 6:40 a.m. this morning, he came out of the residence on his own,” said Sgt. Hudson.
The children were at the residence until that time. It is unknown if they were asleep or not.
Four houses in the immediate area were evacuated from 3 a.m. to around 7 a.m. The area around the incident was also blocked off.
Officials confirmed that no one was injured at the time of the incident and the suspect is currently in custody. He has been charged for assault with a deadly weapon. There may be more charges pending an ongoing investigation.Â
Staff Writers Nikolas Samuels and Samie Gebers contributed to this report.Â
