Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies detained an assault with a deadly weapon suspect at gunpoint following a brief foot pursuit Sunday in Castaic.
The incident was reported around 12:30 p.m. after a man was reportedly acting suspiciously at a senior apartment complex on the 31900 block of Castaic Road, according to Deputy Natalie Arriaga, a spokeswoman with the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
The man, a 21-year-old who was reportedly homeless and living in the wash behind the complex, had allegedly threatened someone with a knife, according to Lt. James Royal of the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
When deputies arrived at the scene, the suspect was seen with a large machete in hand, refusing to comply with commands before fleeing on foot and leading deputies on a brief foot pursuit through the wash behind the Castaic Village Shopping Center, where the suspect was apprehended, Royal said.
Resident Bill Rogers said the suspect is familiar to residents of the complex.
“We’ve seen him around here back and forth,” Rogers said, adding that he recently had an encounter with the suspect in which he was led to believe the man had a knife. “He didn’t make the knife visible, but he made it known that he had it … and he approached me several times within 10 feet.”
When Rogers spotted the man nearby, he said he immediately called the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
“I’m glad to see that the sheriff’s (deputies) are really paying attention and trying to take the people that are breaking the law and do something about it,” Rogers added.
Arriaga later confirmed that the suspect was recognized by deputies arriving at the scene as the same man who had threatened another senior resident with a machete in the same area a few weeks ago.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
