East Hemet: Suspect Threatening to Blow Up House Taken Into Custody After Long Standoff

https://youtu.be/tTp41qpQ7HM

EAST HEMET: On 01/04/2023 at about 8:00 pm, Riverside County Sheriff Deputies served a search warrant on a residence in the 26000 block of Frazier St.

Upon arriving at the residence deputies contacted an individual inside the home who began acting belligerent, didn’t allow them to come in and threatened to light the house on fire or saturate it with gas and make it explode. The suspect refused to cooperate with deputies and a standoff began.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team was dispatched to the location. SWAT deputies brought with them a search robot and a tractor which was going to be used to force entry into the home if needed.

The standoff lasted several hours during which deputies attempted to talk the suspect down and coerce him to surrender and exit the home. Among a small crowd of onlookers, a few family members and friends of the suspect who were speaking to him via cellphone attepted to convince him to give up.

After numerous attempts to negotiate the suspects peaceful surrender, deputies brought in the SWAT tractor and used to to tear a hole into the front of the home. When the suspect still refused to give up, a flashbang grenade was exploded by deputies and the robot was deployed.

Eventually, after approximately 3 hours, the suspect decided to walk to the newly created hole in the wall and surrender to deputies.

Info from unofficial sources state that the reason for the search warrant at the residence is because the home was somehow connected to a recent shooting that occurred on Christmas day and deputies were hoping to find evidence in the home.

This is still an active investigation and this post will be updated as new information is made available by official sources.