Local sheriff’s deputies shut down a Newhall street for more than 90 minutes Friday after apparently receiving reports of a man barricaded in a home.
After investigating the report, no suspect was found inside the house.
The incident began shortly after 10 a.m. when deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station received a report of a possible burglar inside the house, according to Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s station.
Although they were not sure if a suspect was indeed inside the house, deputies erred on the side caution and cordoned off a block of Mentry Drive from Calgrove Boulevard.
More than half a dozen police vehicles congregated behind yellow police tape stretched across the Mentry Drive access from Calgrove.
“They are taking the necessary precautions to check the location with the assistance of canine unit,” Miller said.
“We are waiting for our canine unit,” one deputy said from inside the perimeter.
At 11:05 a.m., about 15 minutes later, a dog handler deputy with the canine unit arrived at the scene with a trained police dog.
The handler spoke with deputies huddled around a white board which appeared to detail the house under scrutiny.
Within a couple of minutes of having arrived at the scene with the dog, a message was broadcast to the barricade suspect:
“Attention, this is the sheriff’s department. We are about to release the police dog into the house. Come out now and you will not be harmed.”
In addressing the barricade suspect, deputies broadcast the sound of the dog barking.
After repeating the warning twice and issuing a message believed to be the same warning, the dog-handling deputy brought the dog to the house .
Within five minutes of the dog being released into the two-story home, the dog, named “Boy,” was escorted from the house to the canine vehicle.
No suspect was escorted from the house.
Shortly after 11:20 a.m., deputies issued a code to others that no further assistance was needed.